Chapter 38: Building a Hot Spring

Minamoto Kiyomoto walked out of the restaurant. It was just past 12 o’clock.

He flicked the brand-new bank check in his hand. It was for 500,000 yen, issued by the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.

On the way back, he bought some vegetables for dinner.

In front of the large banyan tree at Hakusan Shrine, the wisteria flowers on the wisteria trellis were in full bloom. A few housewives with their children were chatting while avoiding the noon sun.

Entering the banyan tree, he went from a modern city to a barren mountain.

Walking on the stone path up the mountain, Minamoto Kiyomoto suddenly remembered his vegetable garden.

He hadn’t watered it for so long, nor had he dealt with the weeds. He didn’t know how many were still alive.

To his surprise, the vegetable garden was alive and well. The eggplants, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and so on were all full of life, and there was not a single weed in the ground.

He put down the vegetables and climbed over the wall into Himemiya Izayoi’s mansion.

The courtyard was colorful, planted with hawthorn flowers, gorse, dianthus, iris, lily of the valley, and other May flowers.

The garden was decorated very elegantly by these flowers.

“Young Master Kiyoshi, why are you climbing the wall again? Are you here to steal something, or are you planning to do something indecent?” Himemiya Izayoi had already returned and was feeding the carp by the pond, looking at Minamoto Kiyomoto climbing the wall with a smile.

Fire Fan, in a kimono, was serving behind her.

“Did you ask Miss Fire Fan to help me take care of the vegetable garden?” Minamoto Kiyomoto walked through the garden path full of flowers and came to the two of them.

“I would never give such a boring order,” Himemiya Izayoi said.

“Oh?” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s gaze turned to Fire Fan, and he said with a smile, “Thank you, Miss Fire Fan. The next time I go out on a mission or to subjugate a yokai, I’ll bring you a local specialty.”

“Your Excellency Minamoto doesn’t have to be so polite,” Fire Fan replied shyly, lowering her head.

“I must, I must. I’ll have to trouble you in the future. If you don’t accept it, how can I have the face to continue asking for your help?”

“Then thank you, Your Excellency Minamoto,” Fire Fan replied shyly.

She raised her head and looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto’s spirited face in the sunlight, feeling a little intoxicated for a moment.

At this moment, she caught a glimpse of Himemiya Izayoi beside Minamoto Kiyomoto, looking at her with a half-smile.

A wave of panic and fear surged in Fire Fan’s heart. She quickly said, “I’ll go and prepare tea,” and quickly walked away.

“Fire Fan is very nice,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said to Himemiya Izayoi.

“Shall I give her to you?” Himemiya Izayoi said with a smile.

“I don’t want a female shikigami. It will delay me from doing great things.”

“You really see shikigami as the opposite sex? She’s just a fan with a fire painted on it.”

“Cats and dogs are friends of humans, let alone shikigami who are no different from humans,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said, then turned to the main topic. “I’m here to learn the ‘Divine Soldier Curse’.”

“One billion,” Himemiya Izayoi spread her small, snow-white hand.

“…Didn’t you say we should share what we have and break the selfishness between people?”

“I kindly offered you Fire Fan, but you didn’t want her. You still want to learn my curse?”

“Then you ask Miss Fire Fan if she’s willing. If she has no objection, I’m willing to accept her.”

After Minamoto Kiyomoto finished speaking, Himemiya Izayoi, who had been happy just now, stared at him with a sneer.

“What’s with that look? Even if she’s with me, I won’t do anything indecent,” Minamoto Kiyomoto promised.

“You can go back,” Himemiya Izayoi turned and walked towards the house.

“What’s wrong?” Minamoto Kiyomoto quickly followed. “Didn’t you say you would give her to me?”

“I gave her to you, and you want her?” Himemiya Izayoi’s footsteps did not stop. Her slender, fair neck was completely exposed to Minamoto Kiyomoto’s eyes.

“I don’t want her. You’re the one who insisted on giving her to me.”

“You’re not allowed to talk to me in the future.”

“…You’re getting more and more amazing. I really think you’re jealous and have fallen in love with me now?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked in disbelief.

“That’s right. This miko likes you,” Himemiya Izayoi walked faster and faster in a huff.

“I don’t want her, I don’t want her! Although Fire Fan is good, how can she compare to you, big sister Izayoi!”

“Is it that she can’t compare to me, or that she can’t compare to my curse?” Himemiya Izayoi stopped, tilted her head, and asked with a smile.

“Alright, you tricked me!” Minamoto Kiyomoto came back to his senses and pointed at her.

“I like you?” Himemiya Izayoi “pfft” with a smile. “Do you have money? Are you as strong as me? When you reach the Kosen level and have paid off all your debts, then you can confess to your big sister.”

“Bad woman,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said unceremoniously.

Himemiya Izayoi smiled and tilted her head, letting out a gentle “hmm?”.

“I like bad women the most. In order to win her favor, I don’t mind getting hurt. If I die for her, that’s exactly what I want. Of course, it’s best to be trampled to death by her. If I’m killed by someone else, I can’t stand it.”

“Are you a pervert?” Himemiya Izayoi said with a laugh and a curse.

Minamoto Kiyomoto replied with a smile, “I read this in a book. I didn’t say it.”

“Yes, yes, it’s all from books. Young Master Kiyoshi is the purest, and still a virgin.”

“Virginity and purity are not the same. I think I’m amazing from the bottom of my heart, but I also think I’m not pure from the bottom of my heart.”

“How are you not pure?”

“Hmm—” Minamoto Kiyomoto pretended to ponder for a moment. “For example, right now, I want to press my lips against your snow-white neck.”

Himemiya Izayoi looked at him twice, then gently pulled open her collar, revealing a patch of snow-white neck.

“Young Master Kiyoshi, please,” she looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto with teasing eyes.

The courtyard was full of the fragrance of flowers, but Minamoto Kiyomoto seemed to have lost his sense of smell, leaving only the sight of her neck.

“Do I have to take responsibility?” Minamoto Kiyomoto was moved, and his breath was slightly hot.

“Do you?” Himemiya Izayoi looked at him with interest, as if she were observing a monkey riding a bicycle in a zoo.

“Then forget it. I have been wandering the world all my life. I don’t know when I will die. I don’t want to drag a beauty down.”

“What if you don’t?” Himemiya Izayoi asked again.

“…Forget it,” Minamoto Kiyomoto gritted his teeth. “I’m afraid I’ll get addicted and delay my cultivation.”

“Is that all the willpower you have? What about your unstoppable arrogance?” Himemiya Izayoi was very disdainful and contemptuous.

“That also depends on the person. Look now, just by chatting with you, I’ve already forgotten about cultivation and wasted a lot of time. I should have been cultivating the ‘Divine Soldier Curse’.”

“Do you take me for a fool?” Himemiya Izayoi rolled her eyes at him in annoyance.

She shook her slender shoulders, and her neck was once again buried under the snow-white lining.

“You’re chatting with me because I haven’t taught you the ‘Divine Soldier Curse.’ If I had taught you, you would have run away long ago.”

“You guessed wrong,” Minamoto Kiyomoto was full of confidence. “I will use the ‘Divine Soldier Curse’ to build a hot spring for big sister Izayoi.”

Himemiya Izayoi’s snow-white, delicate fingers poked Minamoto Kiyomoto’s forehead and pushed his head fiercely.

Minamoto Kiyomoto laughed and didn’t take it seriously.

“Come in,” Himemiya Izayoi said in annoyance and walked into the house.

The ‘Divine Soldier Curse,’ as the name suggests, used divine power to condense various weapons.

It wasn’t that things that weren’t weapons couldn’t be used, but no one would condense a thermos to fight, right?
But even a leaf could kill someone. What one wanted to condense depended entirely on the caster’s own thoughts.

“You have Polaris. You can just practice the ‘Divine Soldier Curse’ casually,” Himemiya Izayoi said.

“Aren’t we going to exterminate Shintoism? I’m using the identity of ‘Rokuro.’ Unless I’m sure I won’t be exposed, it’s best not to use Polaris. The ‘Divine Soldier Curse’ can be useful at this time.”

“Yes, yes,” Himemiya Izayoi lay on her side on the couch, her tone perfunctory. “Go and build the hot spring. I want to use it tonight.”

“As you wish!”

Minamoto Kiyomoto flew into the sky, formed a hand seal, and chanted the incantation:
“The divine breath is formless, the power of ten thousand soldiers!”

A one-meter-long black giant sword emerged from his right arm. The giant sword had no physical body and was all smoke-like divine power.

Minamoto Kiyomoto opened a diversion channel from the mountain stream, which extended all the way to the top of the three houses.

He dug a circular pool, placed the remains of the red and black evil dragon at the bottom of the water, and the water temperature immediately rose.

The giant sword condensed from divine power was extremely sharp. Whether it was trees or rocks in the soil, everything was cut.

The shape changed at will. Shovels, dustpans, axes, and hammers were all at his disposal.

Kamibayashi Miko, wearing a miko outfit, sat under the wind chime on the veranda, flipping through a book.

“Miss Kamibayashi, I’m here to build a bathhouse for you.”

She raised her head and saw Minamoto Kiyomoto sitting on the Tang-style wall, looking smug.

“I thought you were here to bring me pork,” she lowered her head and continued to read the book in her hand.

She had been on leave for a while. Although there was nothing much to learn, she still had to read the books assigned by the lecturer.

“Where would I get so many wild boars? I’m coming in? It’s not free, is it?”

Kamibayashi Miko didn’t speak. Minamoto Kiyomoto jumped in directly.

Shirako came out of the room with a small wooden basin. She glanced at Minamoto Kiyomoto, picked up a white rag, and began to wipe the floor.

The little butterflies also each took a pitifully small rag and flew up and down the wooden house.

“How pitiful,” after saying this, Minamoto Kiyomoto thought of the hot spring pool he was about to build, and it seemed that he was no better than them.

The hot spring pool was built in the upper left corner of Kamibayashi Miko’s house.

To make it look good, he also found some stones and carved a butterfly-shaped water inlet. He also built a small rain shelter on the south side of the hot spring pool.

This way, one could soak in the hot spring in the rain, or hide in the rain shelter, watching the rain while soaking in the hot spring—a person’s happiness came from the right to choose.

While Minamoto Kiyomoto was cultivating the ‘Divine Soldier Curse,’ no, while he was working hard on the hot spring pool, at some point, Kamibayashi Miko, Shirako, and the little butterflies were all standing by the side, watching and giving their opinions from time to time.

Three supervisors, one worker, very reasonable.

Under their command, Minamoto Kiyomoto also transplanted a bamboo forest, installed floor lamps, and built a stone path leading to the house.

“Is it done?” After everything was done, Minamoto Kiyomoto asked.

“The environment is done,” the little butterfly, in order to make it easier to command, sat on his shoulder, her little white legs dangling.

Shirako reached out to test the water temperature and, with the posture of an officer, nodded in approval, “Very good.”

“Come for dinner tonight,” Kamibayashi Miko also expressed her gratitude and satisfaction in her own way.

“To be invited by the master, when you go back, bury your face in the pillow and shout out your joy, you piglet!” Shirako said arrogantly, her hands behind her back, her head held high.

“Okay, okay,” Minamoto Kiyomoto reached out and pushed Shirako’s doll-like, delicate and exquisite body into the hot spring pool.

“Wah!” Shirako screamed, came out of the hot spring, and roared, “I’ll kill you!”

Minamoto Kiyomoto had already climbed over the wall and into Himemiya Izayoi’s courtyard.

“Miko-sama, Miko-sama!” The little butterfly on his shoulder, like a lost child, cried out her master’s name and flew back with flapping wings.

“Just take a bath obediently!” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s smiling voice came from across the wall.

Kamibayashi Miko looked down at Shirako in the hot spring. Seeing her wanting to come up but not wanting to, a smile appeared on her lips.

“Shirako, you try it for me first. I’ll go and get you a change of clothes,” she said.

Shirako pouted her crystal-clear little mouth and finally said, “Thank you, Miko-sama.”

“Little butterfly, are you going to soak?” Kamibayashi Miko asked the little butterfly that had landed on her shoulder.

The little butterfly quickly shook her head, hugged her slender neck in fear, and followed her into the house to get clothes for Shirako.

With Kamibayashi Miko’s experience, it was much easier to build a hot spring pool for Himemiya Izayoi.

However, Himemiya Izayoi’s requirements were higher.

A rain shelter, a dedicated changing room, floor lamps, and flowers were all standard. The hot spring pool was also much larger, and she even requested a rockery to be placed in the center of the pool.

The water inlet was a stone-carved red and black giant dragon.

Ferocious and clawing, with clearly defined scales. After carving it, Minamoto Kiyomoto felt that his ‘Divine Soldier Curse’ had improved again.

With a wave of his hand, the giant sword condensed from divine power actually soared to two meters.

“So you were so demanding to help me cultivate?” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at Himemiya Izayoi.

“What did you say?” Himemiya Izayoi, who was pondering where else she could improve, turned her head.

“…Nothing. I’m going to build my own hot spring. Bye.”

After Minamoto Kiyomoto climbed over the wall and left, Himemiya Izayoi laughed and ordered Haru-arashi and Fuyu-arashi to serve her as she undressed, preparing to try the hot spring immediately.

Minamoto Kiyomoto’s own hot spring was completely open-air, with no walls. The water inlet was a wild boar statue, very majestic.

Then there was a rain shelter. Besides that, there was nothing else.

There was no bamboo forest, no rockery, no flowers, no floor lamps, no shikigami, only himself.

After enjoying the hot spring, he changed into clean clothes, took the vegetables he had bought at noon, and walked along the forest path, past Himemiya Izayoi’s mansion, to Kamibayashi Miko’s house for dinner.

Kamibayashi Miko had also soaked in the hot spring. She sat under the veranda, blowing in the evening wind. Her usually snow-white face was slightly flushed.

“Miss Kamibayashi, you are as tempting as the fruit on the ‘Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil’ in the Garden of Eden,” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at her face.

“Thank you,” Kamibayashi Miko pointed to the kitchen. “If you don’t go and help, Shirako will definitely deal with you later.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at her for a while longer, making sure she wasn’t joking, and walked towards the kitchen as if a student were going to the teacher’s office.

“Piglet! Grasshopper! Damn caterpillar! A mantis that can only live for half a year—”

“Mantis, speaking of mantises, Shirako, did you know? A mantis can still survive for ten days after its head is removed.”

“Who cares about you! You piglet! Leech! Pluck the hair off the pig’s head for me!”

“I told you, don’t call me a piglet when there’s pork around.”

“Piglet! Piglet! Piglet!”

“I suddenly realized that when you say ‘piglet,’ your mouth shape is a little cute.”

“Wh-what?! You piglet, you dare to say such a thing to Lady Shirako!”

Kamibayashi Miko listened to the two of them bickering, looking at the gradually setting sun in the distance. The sunset poured into the courtyard like orange juice, making one’s heart feel sweet.

After dinner, Minamoto Kiyomoto recorded his cultivation experience from the past few days in his cultivation notebook, and also looked through Kamibayashi Miko’s cultivation manual, looking for similar places.

After meditating and cultivating, before going to bed, he wrote a letter to his mother.

“To whom it may concern,”

“My most respected mother, and everyone in Shikoku, this is the May status report.”

“The school held an event called the ‘May Festival.’ A group of boys wore women’s clothes and danced, and the ones cheering below were also all boys. I feel like this country is about to end.”

“I dissected a woman who died in a car accident. The body was still relatively intact.”

“A professor at the school arranged a blind date for me. The other party is the young lady of a private hospital in Chiba Prefecture.”

“The blind date was not interesting. The other party has a very cold sister. I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before.”

“The sister is a high school student. Her Western-style school uniform is very beautiful. She came to our school for a visit, and I was her guide.”

“After sending the letter last month, I found two beautiful girls in the school, from the Faculty of Letters, so I’ve been going to French literature class every day recently. I’m now a qualified French literature enthusiast.”

“In the future, if someone asks me what my favorite novel is, I can answer in a London accent: My favorite is Dumas’s ‘The Knight of the Red House’.”

“This is a long novel about a knight who rescues the queen of Louis XVI, with the French Revolution as the historical background… You probably aren’t interested in this. I’m too lazy to erase it, so I’ll just leave it here.”

“After a few classes, the two beautiful girls from the Faculty of Letters invited me to travel with them.”

“The journey was very exciting. Because it was too exciting, I won’t describe it in too much detail.”

“I miss the sunset on Shodoshima. I often hear the sound of the sea hitting the breakwater in my dreams. I hope everyone is well.”

“Minamoto Kiyomoto”

“May, the wisteria flowers have climbed all over the trellis, the rainy season is probably coming soon.”

It will be on the shelves tomorrow, but there will be no update in the early morning.

(End of Chapter)