Ten Shadows in the Heian Era

Day three of walking to school. I have come to the realisation that no one can ever pull the 'back in my day, we had to walk blah blah blah' crap on me ever again.

Oh, you has a two hour walk over a mountain to get to school grandma? Well I've walked over several for multiple days, and I don't even know how close I am.

It's not like I have Google Maps or anything like that. Hell, I don't even have an actual map.

I just have a vague, go that way, kind of direction.

I don't mind though. I can always ask for directions, as I have been doing, and I'm having fun.

One thing I have noticed though is that there are a lot more Cursed Spirits out here in the wild than back home. It's only been three days and I've killed dozens already.

Well, my Shikigami have killed dozens. I only had to kill one myself because it was actually strong.

I probably could have just let my Shikigami gang up on it, but I wanted to get some practice in before reaching school, so I beat it up myself.

It didn't die in one hit like the others I've faced, but it was also pretty slow so it didn't hurt me either.

I've only encountered two settlements so far, mostly because I haven't been sticking to the roads but traveling in a straight line instead, but still.

The first one was pretty welcoming, but the last seemed pretty suspicious of me. Apparently they didn't trust me because I looked like a Sorcerer, according to some old guy who would actually hold a conversation with me.

Purely out of curiosity, I then did confirm to them that I am a Jujutsu Sorcerer. I pretty much knew what to expect, so I wasn't surprised when they sort of subtly tried to get me to leave as quickly as possible.

So, it turns out Sorcerers aren't very popular everywhere. That's good to know.

Still, I was pretty satisfied with the whole experience. I've never been treated so poorly before purely out of prejudice, it was an interesting experience.

It probably didn't help their opinion of me that I was still smiling even when they kicked me out, but I was too happy to care.

New experiences are what I'm looking for after all.

And there have been so many!

I've seen rice fields that go on for ages, I saw a field full of blood red flowers, a tree so big that it would take twenty of me hand in hand to hug it. There was even this giant mountain that I was going to explore, but by the time I got halfway up, I got this really bad feeling that if I took another step to the peak then I would die.

I'm not really afraid of that, but it didn't feel like the kind of thing I could talk my way out of, so I just resolved myself to go back when I'm stronger.

I can be patient after all. If something is too dangerous to explore, then I just need to get more powerful first. If anything, I just felt challenged.

The point is, I've been having fun.

Which brings me to today.

The sun is at its zenith, shining down on me through the leaves of the lush forest I tread. By my side is one of my Shikigami, Gentle Deer. It basically looks like one of the deer I grew up with, just that it's as tall as I am and the brown fur has darkened to black while the spots are more white and it has a weird symbol like an upside-down teardrop under its jaw.

This is probably my favourite Shikigami. Both because of personal bias, and because its special ability is that its Cursed Energy is backwards.

I don't know if there's a name for it, but I'm guessing it's something like Blessed Energy, since it seems to be an opposite to Cursed Energy. Either way, this version of energy actually heals, which is awesome, and though it took about a year, I did eventually manage to replicate the effect by myself.

I basically just smash my Cursed Energy against itself and it makes Blessed Energy. I don't know how it works, probably some double negative stuff, but it does work, so I'm happy with that. The old man was pretty surprised by my Blessed Energy too, so it doesn't seem to be something all that commonly practiced.

Honestly, I don't think I'll ever get tired of Cursed Energy. It's just so cool and interesting, not to mention just generally useful.

It would be much more of a pain to walk through this untamed forest for example, if not for the fact that I can literally just walk through it. Bushes and roots and the like aren't a problem when they're incapable of tripping me before they tear.

Though, I did have to learn how to protect my clothes with Cursed Energy to avoid ending up naked all the time. It's kind of energy intensive though, so I try to only use it when the foliage has thorns and stuff that will rip my clothes.

Pausing in my stride, I close one of my eyes and the next moment I am seeing the world through two perspectives. One is from my open eye and the other is through one of my Divine Dogs' eyes.

Near a decade of practice and experimentation with my Innate Technique has opened a lot of doors for me. My ability really does have a lot of potential, and I couldn't be happier about it.

I'd take versatility over overwhelming power any day of the week.

From my Dog's eye, I can vaguely see what I have been walking towards.

The Dog is hidden behind the foliage, so the view isn't great, but I can still make out pretty clearly two forms in a recently made clearing, and by clearing, I mean an area of the forest that used to have trees and now has broken trees and cratered earth.

You see, I started walking this way, despite it being in a different direction to my destination, because I felt a gathering of Cursed Spirits, each of which seemed to be about as strong as that one I struggled with.

Naturally, I got curious.

However, as I was on the way, all of the Cursed Spirits seemed to disappear from my senses, and then I felt even more Cursed Energy getting thrown around, likely by the battle that ruined this part of the forest, and I got even more curious.

Now, Cursed Spirits fade away when killed. Which is why it's interesting that my Dog is looking at a woman who seems to be resting, and what seems to be a Cursed Spirit's corpse a short distance from her.

Curious and curiouser. 

Abruptly, a pale blue fire engulfs my vision and I flinch my eye open just as I feel my connection to my Divine Dog sputter out into the ether.

...Did this she just kill my dog? 

What the fuck?

If I wasn't who I am, I'd probably be a lot more mad about that. But eh, it's just a Shikigami, not a real dog, so I don't really care that much. Still, I desummon all my active Shikigami just in case.

Okay I care a little bit, they're very fluffy. But I also have another dog, a bunch of rabbits and this cute deer among others.

Hmm. I keep walking as I try to decide if I'm mad or not.

"Come out! I know you're hiding!" I hear the woman yell and realise that I'm actually pretty close now, closer than my dog was.

"I'm not hiding actually," I return as I step around a tree and quickly step back behind it to avoid another burst of fire. "That was rude."

"Who are you!" The woman demands as I step around the tree again, my arms raised in surrender and a smile on my face even as she glares at me. "What are your intentions here!?"

For a moment I don't answer, because this woman is just so beautiful that I forgot to.

Her hair is long and blonde, which stands out in this nation, though not as much as I feel like it should. She has hazel eyes, small eyebrows and a face so beautiful that no amount of description could do it justice with a body to match.

Damn, she's beautiful.

"Damn you're beautiful." Crap. I said that out loud. Coughing into a fist, I pretend that never happened and continue, "What I mean to say is that I was merely coming to deal with a gathering of Cursed Spirits that I felt. Though, it seems as though you have done so for me."

The woman blushes slightly at my misspeak, but quickly gets back to glaring at me with one hand alight in blue flame that feels weird to my senses held out threateningly.

"Do you expect me to believe that?" She accuses, sounding awfully scornful.

"I would hope so, but ultimately the choice is yours. On another subject, how come that Cursed Spirit hasn't disappeared yet? Is it still alive somehow? Also who even are you? My name's Narauko, nice to meet you."

"Don't change the subject, Sorcerer. If you have no ill intentions, then why were you watching me and why have you been suppressing your Cursed Energy?"

"Eh?" My head tilts as I look at her in confusion before a lightbulb goes off in my head and I realise the misunderstanding taking place. "Ah! That. No, don't worry, I am not suppressing my Cursed Energy, it's just like that."

She seems dubious. I feel like I failed a charisma check.

"I don't believe you." 

Damn.

Wait, this is an easy fix! "Alright, if I start actually trying to suppress my Cursed Energy now, will you believe me then?"

She raises a brow and makes a go on gesture, so I shrug and focus on sucking all my my Cursed Energy away and into my gut.

Really, I should have seen it coming, but the moment that I opened my eyes, I barely got to see a blur of gold before I felt a heavy impact in my gut and then another on my back as I was slammed into the ground with a clawed hand squeezing my throat.

Right. Concealing my energy that much also takes away my active reinforcement.

Oops.

"Who are you," the woman demands once my head stopped spinning, and I try to answer, but just end up wheezing.

The woman takes, in my opinion, too long to realise I can't be choked and answer questions at the same time, before loosening her hold on me.

"M-" I start, only to cough. "My name is Narauko, nice to meet you. Could you please try and void tearing my scarf? It was a gift from a little brat and I think she will cry if it breaks."

The woman above me glares even harder at me, and I match her stare with a light smile of my own, looking her straight in the eye. 

She really is beautiful.

"You're not lying." She states, more than asks, though she does seem rather confused as she does. Probably because she seems to think I have something against her, but I haven't tried fighting back and don't intend to unless she's really going to kill me.

"I try to avoid lying if possible. It's not something I like to do."

"Why did you reveal yourself to me?" She asks, and I get the feeling she's got some kind of lie detector thing going on right now since she's repeating questions.

"I was curious and wanted to see if you were up for a conversation."

"That's all?" She asks, seemingly struggling to believe me at all.

"I've been told curiosity is my Curse."

She seems to take my answer with more weight than I intended, and after staring into my eyes a bit longer, her expression softens from a glare into that expression people make when they're kind of embarrassed about being wrong but don't want to admit it.

It's kind of cute on her.

"Oh." Her hand leaves my throat and she jumps to her feet, walking back to the rock she was resting on, though I notice she doesn't let me out of her peripheral vision.

Sitting up myself, I rub at my slightly sore throat for a moment as I return my Cursed Energy to its usual flow and feel the light pain fade away.

Standing up, I pat myself down and check my scarf for any scratches and happily find none, then I walk after her into the clearing.

The corpse on the floor is some weird kind of bird monster. Kind of like a harpy, but with a really long nose. I kind of recognise it, but I can't quite remember what they were called. Something beginning with a T.

"He's not a Cursed Spirit," the woman says, clearly having seen me eyeballing the thing. "He's a Yōkai. A Tengu, to be specific."

Turning back to her, I grin at the new source of information, even if she seems slightly bashful. Probably about the whole threatening me thing, but I was over that before it was even over.

Still. Yōkai? The old man mentioned them as basically being Cursed Spirits with physical bodies, but he also admitted that he didn't know much about the subject.

But here is a Yōkai corpse! I kind of want to cut it open and see what its biology is like, but I'm not sure if this lady would appreciate that.

"I would like to apologise," the woman says, each word coming out slowly and with great difficulty. "However I was just in battle, so I feel it is perfectly reasonably that I mistrusted you, especially as you were spying on me with a Shikigami."

Not the best apology but not the worst.

"Oh yeah, you just reminded me. I want compensation."

"What." She levels a flat look at me, and I just move my hands back to rest in their sleeves.

"That was a special Shikigami. Now that you've killed it, it's gone forever."

"Oh." She says again, looking a mix between regretful and annoyed. 

She really doesn't like being in the wrong, does she?

I suppose I can understand. I'm quite prideful myself after all, even if my pride is a lot more difficult to wound.

"As compensation, please teach me everything you know about Yōkai!"

I am not above using guilt to gain knowledge!

"Why?" She demands, looking suspicious once again.

"Remember that thing I said about me being curious?"

"Shouldn't you be more focused on Cursed Spirits, Sorcerer?"

"Eh. I'm not technically even a Sorcerer yet, since I'm actually on my way to the school up in Edo right now, and I'm only attending out of curiosity in the first place. I don't intend on spending my whole life focused on nothing but Cursed Spirits."

We hold each other's eyes for a moment before eventually she concedes and lets out a sigh.

"Fine. As compensation for destroying your Shikigami, I will come with you and teach you about Yōkai until we near the city of Edo. Deal?"

"Deal!" I accept before moving a piece of broken tree over and sitting down in front of her.

"Well, where do you want to start?"

Bad question lady, I have so many places I want to start.

"What's with that Tengu? Why were there so many Cursed Spirits here? Why did you kill them? What separates Yōkai from humans and Cursed Spirits? Your Cursed Energy felt weird, is it different? How do Yōkai interact with Sorcerers? How come you're fine with sticking with me all the way to Edo? What was that Tengu even doing here? What's your name anyway? What's a Yōkai's life span? Are Yōkai inherently negative like Curses? Do-"

"Okay! Okay!" She abruptly yells, interrupting me. "Let me answer before asking your next question!"

Grinning unrepentantly at her, I wait for her to calm down.

Clearing her throat and shooting me another glare, she straightens in a way that reminds me of when Kinoshita would lecture me.

"First of all, Edo is only about one day's walk from here, so it is not far." She gives me a deadpan look when I blink in surprise at that information. "You're going to Edo and you don't even know where it is?"

"I've been asking for directions. I know it's that way," I say as I point the direction I was walking.

"It's not that way," she responds, still deadpan.

"Well, I'm sure there is someone in that direction who would have known the way."

"You're kind of an idiot aren't you?"

"I prefer the term carefree."

She sighs again and decides to just move on. "Yōkai are not Cursed Spirits, but they are not human either. You could think of them as somewhere in the middle. They have a physical body, instead of Cursed Spirits who are beings of negative energy. Like Cursed Spirits, Yōkai can be born from negative energy, but that is incredibly rare, and those born that way tend to be incredibly powerful and then become ancestors to great lines of Yōkai, such as Tengu. Yōkai are not inherently negative like Curses, but they can become incredibly powerful through negative energy, though most Yōkai just live peacefully in isolation."

Hoooh? That's interesting. Does that mean I could find a Yōkai village?

"Are there Yōkai villages?" I ask.

"Don't interrupt me," she immediately returns. "Yes, there are Yōkai villages. They have a civilisation, just like every other sapient species. As for your other questions, this Tengu has been terrorising a nearby village. He gathered up some Cursed Spirits and would send them to attack the village, then disguise himself as a human Sorcerer to fight them off."

Doesn't sound so bad, just a bit of an attention seeker.

"He would then use the fact that he saved them to demand that the people of the village do as he said, from bedding the woman to eating them if he felt like it. Sometimes he would just skip the process altogether and fly in and steal away whatever or whoever he wanted."

Well, never mind. then.

"I'm sure the villagers will be happy to know he's dead then," I comment.

"You don't seem that upset. No compassion for your fellow man?" The woman asks, her tone mocking.

I'm not sure if she's trying to get a rise out of me of if this is just how she is as a person, but I just shrug and smile. "I'm not happy they have suffered, but it happens. People live, people die. People suffer, people thrive. Nature moves on, time goes on. I do feel compassion, and I don't want to see people suffer, but focusing all your attention on the suffering of the world will make you blind to all of its joys. It's best to just think about what you can do to make things better and move on, than to just wallow in grief."

I don't look back to see her expression as I approach the Tengu and crouch down next to it.

"Are you some kind of monk?" She asks, making me chuckle.

"No, but I was raised in a shrine. Did you have any plans for doing anything with this corpse, or can I take it to that village you mentioned? I'm sure it would bring them some closure."

"Why bother? I was just going to burn it."

"Because they will be grateful."

"So? Why care what they think? They aren't Sorcerers like you. Just a bunch of monkeys, they can figure it out themselves."

"Hmm. Why did you kill this Tengu?" I ask, and she goes silent.

Shrugging, I make the sign to summon my remaining Divine Dog, only to pause as I feel something strange in my connection to my technique that causes me to freeze.

My Divine Dog... It's bigger?

Focusing closer, I realise what's happened. The dog that died, it's power seems to have flowed down into the other dog, making it even bigger and stronger.

So cooool~!

Making a different sign, I decide to leave the upgraded dog alone for now. "Gentle Deer," I intone and my shadow stretches out, allowing my Shikigami to burst free.

Grabbing the Tengu by its burnt, leathery skin, I haul it up and over my deer before turning back to the woman who's name I still don't have.

"I just realised that I never did get your name," I say as she looks at my deer like she's never seen one before, "Also, which way is it to the village?"

Shaking her head, she points an arm to the side. "That way," she says, and I start moving in that direction. "They won't show you any gratitude you know?" She asks, making me pause and turn back to her with a raised brow.

"It doesn't matter if you tell them you killed him yourself. Just the fact that you're not a monkey like them will make them hate you. If you don't scare them into submission, they will come after you with torches."

"Maybe," I acquiesce, thinking back on that village that threw me out. "I still think they will be grateful though."

"You're wrong. Humans aren't like that. They will hate you just because you are different. They won't thank you."

"Good thing I'm not looking for thanks then, isn't it?"

"You're a fool, but maybe this will be good for you. A wake up call to the true nature of those monkeys." Her scornful tone tells one hell of a story, but I'm not socially obtuse enough to call her out on it.

Instead I just chuckle and give her a wink before continuing my walk. "Humans are more complex than that, you know? You should give them more credit."

I make it a few steps before noticing that she isn't moving to follow me at all, which isn't unexpected considering her earlier words. However, even if she doesn't follow me, she does still call out.

"Tamamo. My name is Tamamo-no-Mae."

Smiling, I wave over my shoulder. "Nice to meet you, Tamamo-Sensei."

It doesn't take long before the village is in sight. It's bigger than the one near my home by quite a bit. About six times as big, with over two dozen houses that I can see, and they're actually arranged near each other on a proper road. From what I know, most villages in this time period are more just a few hamlets roughly near each other.

Before I actually leave the forest proper, I make another shadowgraphic hand sign, this one in the shape of a fox.

"Trickster Fox," I intone, and from my shadow emerges a small white fox, about the size of my forearm, maybe a little bit bigger, with sleek, smooth white fur and glowing blue eyes that somehow just seem mischievous.

It also has a symbol between its ears of a triangle similar to the ones on my dogs, or dog now, except it's on top of another symbol that kind of looks like one of those stands I remember using to hold stuff over bunsen burners in high school.

When I first started training my technique, I struggled to even summon more than one Shikigami at the same time, and even now, I struggle to get four out at the same time.

Still, Trickster Fox's ability is the ability to project illusions. They're not physical illusions, and I have to make an illusion of a shadow when I use it because it doesn't block out light either, which kind of doesn't make any sense from a physics standpoint.

How can you see something if light passes straight though it? Is it weird of me that this is the thing I find the most unexplainable in this new life? Probably.

Whatever the case, my fox climbs up my clothes and crawls into my scarf, hiding itself wrapped around my neck. It's very warm.

Then I have the fox project an illusion over my deer of itself. This way, the people of the village, monkeys, as Tamamo called them, will actually be able to see the deer, instead of just seeing a floating Tengu.

A short walk later, and I am approaching the village proper. I noticed some people spot me earlier, so there's already something of a crowd gathered to greet me, with even more people hiding around in the buildings and alleys watching.

Walking up to the group of not so subtly armed men, I give the one front and centre my best smile.

"Hello there! I have heard that you have been suffering attacks by this here Tengu. Rest assured, as you can clearly see," I gesture to my side before returning my hand back to rest before me, "It has been slain. You needn't live in fear any longer."

Nobody responds for a moment, and then a whole lot of muttering breaks out. So much that I can't catch any words, but the tone doesn't seem particularly happy.

The guy I assume is the local leader steps forward and glares at me, holding some sharp farming equipment in a white knuckled grip.

"W-what have you done!" He yells at me. "Now who will protect us from the Spirits!"

I make sure to keep my peaceful smile, even as the crowd starts to get agitated. I can actually feel the Cursed Energy in their bodies spiking as negative emotions flood the crowd.

"The Cursed Spirits are also dead. So much so that I cannot even bring you corpses."

"LIES!" Someone in the crowd yells out.

"It's just another trick!"

"Look at that deer! That's no normal animal!"

"We have nothing left to give!"

Having my deer step closer to me, I grab the Tengu's corpse and throw it to the ground before the crowd before cancelling my technique and letting the deer dissolve into shadows. "This is not a trick, and I do not want anything that you have. You are safe now."

"That bird said the same thing! Then it took my wife!"

"This is just another demon!"

"We're done being cattle!"

Looking through the crowd, feeling their negativity, I don't hate them. They're just people in the end. And they've suffered the worst poison of them all.

Hope.

First the monsters came, and they felt despair. Then came a man who said he would save them, and they felt hope. Then this man demanded food and drink and women, and they felt that hope shatter.

In the time since then, they have just been getting hammered down, again and again by this Tengu. So much so that they gave up on fighting back. So much so, that hope now tastes to them like a bitter poison.

They want to accept it. To believe me. To be free from despair.

They just can't bring themselves too. They're too close to the edge, too hopped up on emotions to be able to think rationally.

Too human to accept reality.

That's fine. I didn't expect them to.

Putting my hands back in my sleeves, I start walking. Edo is on the other side of the village after all, so I do need to go that way.

"Your demons are dead," I say, even as they all back away from my approach, keeping a distance with their bodies but not with their words as they curse at me. "You may rest easy, knowing that your suffering has been avenged."

A rock bounces across the ground in front of me, and then another bounces off my hip.

I ignore it and keep walking. 

"Monster!" They yell as another stone hits me as I continue to walk, not changing pace or expression.

"Liar!" They scream, as some rotten fruit splatters against my shoulder, getting some gross juice on my cheek.

"Sorcerer!" They accuse, as a sharp rock smashes into my forehead, leaving a faint mark but nothing more.

I don't react to any of it, I feel no need to.

Physically, they cannot hurt me, and words definitely can't hurt me. I'm going to have to clean my clothes, but that's something I do anyway, so it's no bother.

Nothing they could possibly do to me, would have any kind of lasting effect. More than that, I understand.

They are angry. They don't hate me. They are just angry at the idea I represent.

All in all, this whole interaction, this whole day? To me, it is just another day.

I learnt some new things, which I always enjoy. Had some new experiences, which I love. But ultimately, none of this could have happened, and my life would not be any different for it. 

To me, today has hardly been significant.

To them? To them, their entire lives have just turned on their axis. Everything has changed. It is so much more significant for them, so I just ignore the rocks and the fruit. Because it means so much more for them to throw it than it does for me to clean it off later.

Eventually however, I do leave the village behind and walk back into the forests, headed for Edo.

Humans are so interesting to me.

"I told you they wouldn't thank you," a voice calls out ahead of me, and I turn my smile up to Tamamo, sitting on a tree branch.

"Tamamo-san. I wasn't sure if I would see you again."

"I am not one to flake on a deal made, and drop the -san." Tamamo hops down from the tree and starts walking alongside me, giving me a strange look that has me raising a brow.

Reaching a hand up, she uses her thumb to wipe the bit of juice off my cheek. "There's a lake this way," she says instead of whatever is actually on her mind, and I nod gratefully.

The walk to water is done in peaceful silence. Well, peaceful for me. She seems rather frustrated for whatever reason.

When we arrive, the first thing I do is take off my scarf and look it over. It's not that bad, luckily. The fact that it's poor quality actually did it some favours, since it's actually sturdy, instead of better looking silks are.

It doesn't take long to scrub it clean, and I hang it on a branch to dry before taking off the outer layer of my kimono and doing the same. I don't bother with the hakama pants, because they're just going to get dirty again walking through weeds.

"Why did you let them do that?" Tamamo eventually asks once I've hung up my clothes to dry and pulled a spare set out of my shadow, sounding like she's really trying and failing to understand.

"You sure make me repeat myself a lot," I tease with a smile, continuing before she can be offended. "They needed closure. They needed to see that the Tengu was dead."

"They threw rocks at you Narauko. Rocks and rotten food. I was right. They weren't grateful at all. They Cursed you and spat on your kindness." At this point, she is pinning me under a glare like she's accusing me of a crime or something. "You don't seem that strong, but you're better than those monkeys. You could have slaughtered them all. Why would you let them treat you like that?"

Sighing, I take a seat on the grass next to the lake as I think about how to word this.

"Most humans don't really stop being children. They struggle with maturity. Perspective. In the end, they are an emotional people, and those people down there? They are the downtrodden. They have been suffering for so long, with no possible outlet for their pain. It's not good to bottle up your emotions you know? It's bad for your health, and that goes for me and you too, for everyone and everything capable of feeling. If you bottle your emotions up too much, eventually you will start to crack. That's why you should smile when you're happy and cry when you're sad."

Pausing as I look at my reflection in the water, I consider what I'm saying before continuing.

"Those people have been bottling up their emotions for so long that they started to crack. That kind of wound isn't something that can be easily healed. Time will eventually dull the pain, but the scars will likely be with them for the rest of their life. However, even if there isn't really a treatment for that pain, the worst thing you can do is keep bottling it up. They needed a release. They needed to vent those feelings, or the cracks would just keep growing larger and larger."

Finding myself smiling, I turn back to Tamamo, feeling like I'm better understanding my own feelings by saying this all out loud.

"Emotions are not some simple thing. When I say they needed to vent their negative emotions, that doesn't mean they can just scream at the sky and feel better. For something like that, they need a target to throw all of their hatred, all their grief and their frustrations upon. They don't hate me, they were just so full of hate that they took it out on the first available target."

Tamamo is starting to look at me like I'm an alien with two heads.

"But why would you let them? You only showed them kindness, what right do they have to choose you as the target of their hate? How could you accept such an injustice?"

"Because it is a good thing for them," I answer honestly. "It is progress. If they truly thought that they were still in the same bad spot they were in yesterday, then they never would have had the courage to Curse me. That they could even do that much, shows that they feel safer already. And I don't mind if they return my kindness with malice. I don't show kindness with the expectation of receiving gifts in return in the first place. I just do what I want to do. Besides, better they target me than someone who will punish them for their feelings."

"...You are a strange man, Narauko, and an even stranger Sorcerer. Aren't your kind supposed to be selfish?"

"I would say I am pretty selfish. I selfishly love the world, no matter how it treats those that walk upon it." I glance at the scarf drying nearby. "I selfishly pursue my desires, no matter who I leave behind."

"You are the strangest Sorcerer I have ever met," Tamamo says, eyeing me like I'm something completely foreign to her before she continues in a softer tone, "But that is not necessarily a bad thing."

"Thank you." I grin at her.

"I still don't see the point."

"Give it a year," I tell her. "Give it a year and then come back here. By then, their frustrations will have faded. By then, they will have accepted that they are no longer in danger of Curses. They will have had time to feel safe again, to feel free again. The wound will never fully heal, but if you come back in one year, you will see the difference for yourself, and by the time the next generation rolls around, the wound will fade into time."

Tamamo shakes her head, but I can tell that she's not as confident as she was before.

"I still think it was pointless," she says, and I just shrug. 

"You are entitled to your own thoughts. You don't have to agree with me to understand my motivations."

"And you are okay with me finding your motivations to be foolish?"

"We've only just met. It would be strange if you started accepting my own opinions over ones you have held for however long before we met."

"You really are strange," Tamamo mutters, making me chuckle.

Seeing as we're going to wait for my clothes to dry, I make a shadowgraphic of a rabbit and summon my most populous Shikigami.

"Rabbit Escape," I intone and the clearing is flooded with tonnes of fully balls of white fur.

Letting myself fall backwards, I close my eyes and let out a contented sigh as I am caught by and enveloped in a pile of fluff.

Using magic superpowers for mundane lifestyle stuff is the best, and having an on demand super fluffy army of bunnies ready to act as a beanbag is amazing.

Cracking an eye open, I meet the deadpan stare of Tamamo's with a grin. "Do you want a cushion, Tamamo?"

She doesn't answer so I make her one anyway and ignore the way she glares at me when I snicker at her obvious comfort.

"So," I say after a moment of comfortably enjoying the peace. "Do you know much about current events? My information is a few decades out of date."

"A few decades?" She asks. "How old are you?"

That makes me laugh. "I'm only fifteen," I say with a chuckle. "My teacher is old though. I only left home for the first time a few days ago, so everything's pretty new to me."

"Human politics aren't something I'm interested in," Tamamo answers, and I choose to ignore how she keeps separating herself from humanity. "I only know the broad strokes."

Smiling, I give her my undivided attention.

"Teach me."

///

A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

You remember when I said this fic is going to be a lot of side-quests? Yeah, I wasn't joking.

Let me know what you think, cuz feedback is appreciated. Also, if you have any myths or legends or historical figures from around the year 1000 (for humans, if they're something with a longer life span then they just need to be pre-1000 at least) you want me to include, let me know and I might.

Also, cuz it's set so long ago, expect to see characters, both mythological and fictional, who are not very in line with how they are famous, because these characters will be met while they are young and have not yet turned into the people we all know them to be.

I'm sure I don't have to point out who I'm referring to. That said, I'm probably going to keep introducing well known figures. Like Kinoshita, him and his wife were both well known, and I really want someone to figure it out, so I'll even give a hint that Kinoshita isn't his birth name.

Also, if you want to read ahead, I do have a patreon, Kevin the Bored, with five chapters ahead currently.