Chapter 90

EPISODE 3 LET’S LOOK INTO THE ENEMY’S INTERNAL AFFAIRS! Around the same time, Kiyomizu Jouryuuji was leaving the Empire to return to Japan. Good grief, what is going on? Suddenly losing contact with the order like this is a little eerie. The regular communications she had been receiving had come to an abrupt stop, so she was going to check on things. Borders were, of course, a trivial matter. The national border was essentially meaningless to Kiyomizu. Even if a border guard did discover her, she could just take them out. Anyone with a backbone in this country became an Imperial guard or was stationed somewhere in the interior. There was no one who could stop her here. Kiyomizu Jouryuuji was the heir to the family that controlled the order of the Virginal Father, and she was considered the strongest among all their active members. After many changes and transitions, the current order fell entirely under the control of the Jouryuuji clan. The Jouryuujis were split into several branch families—Hijirigawa, Gomain, and Akaike—who, together with the head family, controlled the inner workings of the order throughout the country. Every one of them had a specialized power that worked against the Sacred Blooded. There were even some who said that the Jouryuuji family had become abominations themselves in the process. Though at times their relations were strained, a multilayered communications network had kept the family together. Despite that, Kiyomizu had suddenly been left in the dark. I hope it’s nothing… But there is a chance my foolish father really messed up… She raced along, faster than a beast, and exited into the mountains of Oshiro in Japan. There was no need for her to go into town. The gentle mountain ridges that separated the Empire and Oshiro went on at length in both directions. In the middle of said mountain range lay Kiyomizu’s destination. As she made her way along the faint path, she came across a cave opening. The small statue of the Kannon bodhisattva hinted at the presence of people. Most of it had eroded away at this point, but it was a testament to the style of stonework that had flourished in the Kamakura period. And despite its weathered state, people still came to this place. This was the Jouryuuji training dojo and hideout. If anything happened, they were to gather in this cave—their grotto of meditation. There would be no point, after all, if she had gone straight to their base at Jouryuuji Temple only to find it had already fallen to the enemy. Though the entrance to the cave was tight, after crouching for a short stretch, Kiyomizu emerged into a spacious area. Inside was the Jouryuuji family. Tatami covered the floor, the lights were on, and Kiyomizu even saw some people using the Internet; there must have been Wi-Fi set up in here. Some of them were even chatting over tea and cake. Some were reading manga. There were about fifteen in total, spanning all ages with a roughly even gender divide—including some whose gender was unclear. Some wore the stoles of Buddhist priests, and some the garb of mountain ascetics. To put it simply, it was how the Jouryuuji family had always been. “What are you all doing here?” Kiyomizu asked her father, Rakan Jouryuuji, who was sitting hunched over and watching TV. There was an air of indignity about him. His head was shaved, typical for a Buddhist priest, but as if to make up for it, he sported a massive beard. “Ah, Kiyomizu, you’re back from the Empire… I’ve been waiting for you.” “Oh really? Waiting for me without sending any word? And what happened? You’re all in evacuation mode.” “To tell you the truth, there’s been a problem with the Virginal Father headquarters…” “I can tell, since you are all here in the cave. What happened? I can’t imagine an outside enemy would be able to seriously damage the order.” “…You won’t get mad if I tell you, will you?” “I might, depending on the situation. You may be my father, but I will still partially kill you. Not all the way, just partially.” “…You won’t get mad if I tell you, will you?” “You will be in for an even worse time if you do not tell me. I will even lay waste to your gravestone!” “…You won’t get mad if I tell you, will you?” “Oh, fine! I won’t, just tell it to me already! What happened while I was away?” “The branch manager of the Virginal Father’s Tokai Bloc, Sairi Fuyukura, executed a coup d’état and essentially destroyed the order; now only a few people remain in her direct service… She even took over the Jouryuuji Temple itself…” “Sairi Fuyukura? She was the Sacred Blooded Emperor’s lover… She knew he was Sacred Blooded and still had a child with him. Unbelievable…” Someone who believed in the Virginal Father’s ideology would also hate the Sacred Blooded. And so even if it was part of some scheme, it was unthinkable to bear a Sacred Blooded child. “If I recall correctly, the order was treating her as a heretic for that very reason… That should’ve been fine, but it sounds like the heretic treatment gave her the perfect opportunity to rebel…” “Indeed… We believed that she had assassinated the Sacred Blooded Emperor and prepared a branch post for her, but that turned out to be a mistake… Considering it now, it does sound ridiculous that she would live with the Sacred Blooded Emperor for over a decade simply as part of a scheme… She had us completely fooled…” It was extremely rare that someone who was not a part of the Jouryuuji clan was given an important post; after all, it was the Jouryuujis’ financial power that had brought the Virginal Father into being. But conversely, that meant that Sairi Fuyukura’s branch was left out of the loop, giving her a chance to rebel. “But how strange. She should not have the money to pull off a coup in the first place. I don’t think any financial affairs were left in her hands, so how could she overturn the organization itself?” Something was odd. Sure, maybe she could have taken over the Tokai Bloc branch alone, but it was weird that she had managed to take over the entire order. The other branches would not have stood by and watched. “…You’ll be upset if you hear this, won’t you…?” “Do you still think you have a choice?” Kiyomizu allowed him a glimpse of several needles. “I will stab you with every one of these I have. They are all poison-tipped. This one will give you athlete’s foot, this one will give you a mouth ulcer, this one will make your armpits smell, and this one will make your snoring very loud!” They were all poisons with boring effects, but they nonetheless sounded very irritating. “Sh-she invited us on a luxury cruise…” “And?” “Inside was a massive casino…” “Mm-hmm.” “I was so engrossed in the gambling that, next thing I knew, I had lost all our assets… And Sairi had bought everything that once belonged to the Jouryuuji clan name…” Kiyomizu whipped out a folding fan, seemingly from thin air. “What? Where did you get that—?” “From a secret bag connected to the fourth dimension!” And she used the fan to mercilessly thwack her father. A lot. “This is from me! This is from our family! This is from everyone else in the order! Feel the pain!” “Buh! Buh! B— Guh! Stop, I’m going to die, I’m going to die…” “This won’t kill you! And what happened to all our members? Our organization is bigger than just the Jouryuuji clan!” The scope of the Virginal Father was such that they had the manpower to rival the Sacred Blood Empire’s forces. Obviously, not all those people belonged to the Jouryuuji family. “Lower-level members of the order were all let go, and then Sairi helped them get stable jobs elsewhere. Now that their livelihoods are secure, it seems their hatred toward the Sacred Blooded naturally faded away on its own…” The organization had collapsed while Kiyomizu wasn’t looking. She felt completely blindsided. “So as it stands, the Jouryuuji family has lost everything… I suppose it’s just a product of the changing times. It’s basically impossible for us to exterminate the Sacred Blooded at this point, which leaves the radicals without a clear goal. So maybe this was for the best—though that doesn’t erase your sins, foolish father of mine.” “Ah, so you are angry with me…” “Of course, once all this simmers down, I will give you a very thorough denunciation.” “I think you’ve just signaled my death, plot-wise… N-now what—?” “So, foolish father, am I correct to assume that the Virginal Father is currently being run by Sairi Fuyukura and her lackeys without our permission?” Kiyomizu had ignored her father’s comment. “Yes, that is correct… In reality, it is now an entirely different organization made up of a small, select few.” “First, we will look at their organization and decide what to do from there. You do have a list of people, don’t you?” Her father went to a drawer farther back in the cave and pulled out a piece of paper. “This is the list of new members. Our clan is totally absent…” “Hmm, let’s see… Who’s left? …………………………………………” “Hmm? What is it? Why did you go quiet?” “I’m not sure what to make of this list. I would be nervous if it was filled with radicals, but that doesn’t seem to be the case… I am not sure what criteria she used to choose these people. There are quite a few new members as well…” There had to be a common link among them somewhere. But whatever it was eluded Kiyomizu. “Maybe she only took people with English proficiency test scores over eight hundred.” “Quite bold of you to be joking around.” She thwacked him with her fan again. Though he was her father, she showed no mercy. “Or maybe she is simply surrounding herself with powerful people…?” “I’d be able to tell by their names alone if that were the case. It doesn’t seem like she’s basing this on skill.” “Academic history, then?” “I will pluck out your beard if you make another joke.” “No, please! I am bald; all I have left is my beard!” “What?! You didn’t shave your head to become a priest?! You just went bald?! I had no idea! How shocking!” “I was a troublemaker when I was young. I dyed my hair so much I damaged my scalp…” “Just stop talking, please. Starting now, I will act as head of the Jouryuuji household. I think that would be much better.” “Oh… Please let me be head of household a little longer…? At least nominally…?” Kiyomizu plucked five hairs from his beard. “Ouch… Very well. Go on and be head of household…” “I shall humbly take on the position.” And so Kiyomizu Jouryuuji, new head of the family, was born. Other family members around them started whispering their approval among themselves (“Yeah, Kiyomizu would be great,” “Let’s let Kiyomizu take over”). The change was made without much incident. “Still, what is going on in your head, Sairi…? All I can imagine is that you’re plotting something. Anyway, foolish father of mine, bring a map to your new leader.” “A world map?” She smacked him again with her fan. “It should really be obvious, but I want a map of the Jouryuuji Temple and the Oshiro area. And bring me some colored pens, if you will.” When the map came to her, she drew a big circle around the temple marker. That was Jouryuuji Temple. If that was Sairi’s base, then she would have a firm footing to control the entirety of the Oshiro area. But it seemed that for the moment, the grotto of meditation, which was situated behind the temple, was safe. Only the family knew about this place, and it was unlikely that Sairi and her crew would come snooping around here. Or maybe what Sairi was after was at the front of the temple. “It seems it’s all coming back to Jouryuuji Temple, in the truest sense of the word.” Kiyomizu drew an arrow up from the temple marker. What it pointed to was beyond the mountains: Akinomiya—the current Sacred Blood Empire. Sairi was plotting something against them. One of Kiyomizu’s classmates immediately came to mind. It wasn’t Ryouta. He wasn’t of Sacred Blood, so he wasn’t a threat. What will happen to Shiren Fuyukura? Her mother might be poised to attack. Not only would she have to deal with the direct threat, but as Sairi’s daughter, her position within the Empire was also in danger. Though, Kiyomizu still wasn’t sure what Sairi was thinking. I just can’t believe that someone who hated the Sacred Blooded would be able to spend so long a time among them. But it is true that the emperor died with impeccable timing… There were so many peculiarities about the situation. “I have quite a bad feeling about this… Maybe I should stay away from the Empire for the time being… I am sad I won’t be able to see Ryouta dearest, but I will just have to make do with my special-order body pillow…” But before that, there was something else she had to take care of. “Foolish father of mine, pick the five most capable people we have.” “Why? Are you going drinking…?” She smacked his bald head with her fan. “We’re infiltrating Jouryuuji Temple for surveillance.” “What? That sounds scary…,” he said, and she gave him another smack. It was about time he took this seriously.