“He’s massive… Was Lord Hotaru always this big?” she asked. It was rare, but some elebeasts were the size of a hill.
Akanagi shook his head coldly. “You really think any elebeast could be that big? He grew steadily larger as the symptoms of deformation worsened. He’s already lost his sense of self.”
Yae gasped. That last part was important. If he had lost himself, he couldn’t be saved.
“We’ve already lost all hope for Elder Hotaru’s recovery. Honestly, it would be a great help at this point if he would just die. But look at him. He’s huge… If we weren’t binding him with red rope, his divine power would overflow and flood the area like a tsunami. That would warp the atmosphere and invite calamity,” Akanagi said with a hard gaze. “We can’t let the province be destroyed. Some voiced the opinion that we should kill him, but the elder’s children protested vehemently. Those who agreed with his children tied him down with red rope, but it’s barely containing him. It only bought us a few days. If Elder Hotaru can be calmed, we’ll let him regress to nature. If he can’t, then we’ll go ahead and seal him as a fallen god.”
“If he’s sealed, his soul won’t be able to reincarnate…” Yae felt awkward saying that where the tiger brothers could hear, but it had to be brought up. Arai and Sui’s souls were somewhat distorted, and they had lost their memories, but she believed they retained their power from their previous lives because they were sealed in this world and worshipped. In Hotaru’s case, however, he would be sealed as a wicked fallen god. It would be a disgrace to his family as well. People would begin to avoid them as an impure bloodline.
“That’s hardly important when the fate of our province is at stake,” Akanagi responded in irritation.
Hoodori was ready to offer his life, and Akanagi had accepted a betrothal to the Natureless Yae. Now that she understood the gravity of the situation, she could see why they were willing to put up with that level of sacrifice in the hopes of resolving it.
That said, it was just as she thought—the disasters befalling Miya Province had nothing to do with her. …Should I really go along with this? Am I acting out of a desire to be liked, just like I always have? Yae asked herself, afraid she was repeating the same mistake yet again.
The ground roared a third time before she got her answer. She strained her eyes and saw red ropes between the swaying trees. She also heard the angry cries of people calling for vigilance. There were probably guards stationed around Hotaru.
The light of the setting sun made the trees of the mountain look like they were lighting up in flame. It was a divine and beautiful sight, but ominous as well. Hoodori and Akanagi seemed just as taken as Yae by the sight of the mountain like the surface of a scarlet ocean. They all fell silent, and in that moment, the earth rumbled even louder than before. Screams soon followed.
Villagers leaned out from the verandas of their cliff-face houses and pointed at Hotaru, shouting, “The ropes have come loose!” Hoodori’s and Akanagi’s faces tensed, and they stared at Hotaru.
A hateful howl filled the area. Just as the villagers had said, Hotaru was standing in defiance of the spiderweb of red ropes tied over his body. He truly looked like a monster as he howled again and again. He had the body of a wolf, but his face had already begun to transform, and his eyelids were round and swollen like a dogu figurine. His head had almost completely turned to wood, and vines were entwined even around the fangs of his roaring mouth.
Hotaru writhed, trying to break free from the remaining red ropes. The tree trunks on his back broke and fell from the effort. Yae could hear the screams of the people running around in confusion in his vicinity.
Sui, who had remained a white tiger at Yae’s side until now, resumed his human form. “I’ve never seen a person grow that large, even with divine power. I don’t think there are many who surpass me and Arai in strength… Yae, I’m going to go down there and investigate,” he said.
“What? That’s dangerous!” Yae exclaimed.
“It’s okay. I’m just going to look,” he assured her cheerfully, then turned back into a tiger and nimbly raced along the cliff toward Hotaru.
“Akanagi, take Yae to safety. It will take some time to seal him. I’m going to go help,” Hoodori commanded with a hard voice. Akanagi matched his tone.
“I should go, too. What’ll we do if Elder Hotaru escapes and attacks another province?”
“We can’t afford to lose you. You’re a Wild Nature with divine power.”
“What the hell does that matter? That won’t mean a thing if we all die!”
As they argued with determined expressions, the golden tiger Yae was sitting on showed his boredom by yawning and scratching his claws at the wooden beams of the stairs at his feet. She tugged at his ears lightly to get him to stop digging at the knots in the wood. Arai hated Miya Province and probably didn’t care what happened to it. Yae didn’t have any attachment to this place, either, and she hadn’t come because she wanted to. But watching people fly out of their houses in a panic and run toward Hotaru, she couldn’t bring herself to say she wanted to go home.
Anyway, it wasn’t Yae’s turn to act. It would be best for her to evacuate as soon as possible. It was as she thought this that she heard a woman cry out, “Yae!” She turned toward the voice and saw a red-haired woman wearing a light-pink robe dash out from a house and run toward her. It was Oshiro.
“Lady Oshiro, you’re safe,” Yae said, getting down from the golden tiger’s back.
Other women emerged after Oshiro, and they also ran toward her. They were all women who had married here from Kaki Province.
“I’m so glad to see you’re safe, too, Yae! Geez, don’t worry us like that! Do you have any idea how heartbroken we were, thinking you had died?!” Oshiro cried, throwing her body at Yae and wrapping her in a firm embrace. Akanagi and Hoodori stopped arguing at once and turned to watch Yae and the women.
“Sorry for worrying you, Lady Oshiro,” Yae apologized. Oshiro hugged her so tightly that it hurt, and Yae softly patted her on the back. Oshiro was just as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside. She treated Yae with kindness even though Yae was Natureless and kept her distance from others.