Yae grabbed a towel from a wooden shelf along the wall, held up one of Kuroashi’s front paws despite his annoyance, and began to wipe the mud off. His paws were fascinating to the touch, at once hard and soft. She couldn’t help but poke the padding casually, and Kuroashi responded in irritation by whacking her on the arm with his free front leg.
“Come on, I’m exhausted. Surely, I deserve a little animal therapy? I skipped lunch at work today,” Yae complained, sounding like her abusive boss from her previous life. That reminded her that she was hungry, and she decided to prepare an early dinner. “Oh, shoot. I’m out of eggs and sausage.”
Yae opened the folding door to check the storage closet next to her stove and grimaced. Kuroashi followed and peered in from beside her. The closet was installed under the floor, enabling it to serve as a refrigerator.
Yae grumbled as she put the loquat fruits she’d picked on the way home into the closet. “Living without electricity and gas is really hard…”
She had three round, paperweight-like quartz pieces in the closet that had been cooled to prevent the food from rotting. They only remained effective for a few days, so she would need to pay to have them cooled again… That was a pain she could deal with tomorrow.
“I need to go shopping. Let’s go together, Lord Kuroashi!” she said, giving him a friendly smile in the hopes that he would carry her bag. The tiger gave her a suspicious look but followed her obediently.
“I’m not asking for luxury, but a twenty-four seven convenience store, a supermarket, and a pharmacy would be really nice. I’d kill for some household appliances, too… And will someone please hurry up and invent the bicycle? Ah, but minerals are really precious here… I don’t think improved technological skill would be enough,” Yae grumbled, voicing desires that were nothing if not luxurious. She grabbed an empty basket and went out once again with Kuroashi in tow.
This world also used currency in addition to barter. Yae earned money from her ceremonial duties and from selling hand-knitted fabrics and embroidery, and she felt she made a decent living. There wasn’t a supermarket where you could buy anything under the sun, but there were merchants, and it was common to buy food and daily necessities from them. Eggs and produce were typically bought directly from the people who produced them.
Yae’s first destination was a row house set up for peddlers below a terraced field. Merchants from out of town came here during the day to palm off wares packed into draining baskets and barrels. Their shops looked a little like street stalls.
She looked around and saw people here and there eyeing the goods along the row house. They were all startled when they noticed Yae with Kuroashi following behind her. The first to speak to her was a rice dealer she had become acquainted with. “Dr. Yae, I see you brought Lord Kuroashi with you again.”
“He’s just my bodyguard,” Yae responded lazily. The rice dealer laughed awkwardly. “Three bowls of rice, please.”
Rice was measured by the bowl in this world rather than by cups like in Japan. One bowl was equivalent to two cups, or about three hundred grams. That would last for three or four days if she had rice at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
“Coming right up,” the merchant said. He climbed a ladder and used a ladle to scoop rice out of a giant barrel. The barrel wasn’t a mysterium, but it was very big, about the size of a grown man.
These barrels had been set all along the row house. The next merchant over carried wheat, and the next, alcohol. Yae decided to buy wheat next. People ate bread much more often than rice in this world. She walked up to the wheat merchant and used her fingers to signal for five bowls. The merchant grinned affirmatively.
“I have eggs, fresh eggs! …Dr. Yae, need any eggs?”
A large man who worked as an egg peddler walked by her. Perfect timing.
“I’ll have six, please.”
The egg peddler was unique in that he didn’t have a shop—instead, he carried a large umbrella on his shoulder with the cloth removed and egg baskets hanging on the exposed ribs.
He usually gives me a freebie if I have Lord Kuroashi with me! Celebrating internally, Yae placed her now-heavy basket on Kuroashi’s back and made a lap around the row house. She had gotten most of what she wanted, including meat and vegetables, so she started back home to the Whiskey House.
“Oh yeah, I’m almost out of soapberries,” Yae muttered, stopping in the road. She used dried soapberries as soap. The fruits couldn’t be picked in this season, so she would have to purchase some from a merchant. Or she could just use adzuki beans instead… “Really makes you appreciate the convenience of washing machines…”
People in this world had to live their lives in accordance with the seasons. There was always a job to do, whether it was tilling the fields, digging a well, taking care of livestock, or working at the loom.
“It sure makes you feel alive,” Yae said to herself, overcome by a strange mood. Kuroashi nudged her in the knees gently with his head; that was probably a signal telling her to hurry home. The thought made her happy.
It was a moonlit night.
“Tsuuchi-ya, tsuchi-ya, ametsuchi-ya.”
Yae sang as she marched along the dark path. She had a paper lantern in her right hand and a net bag full of loquat fruits in her left. They were the fruits she had picked along the road the previous day, and she had tied them all with hemp string.
“Maatsuro, matsuro, maatsuro-ya, chimata.”
She was wearing a long white robe with a stand-up collar tied by a black sash and tubular white tabi on her feet. She wasn’t wearing shoes—she wasn’t allowed to.
“Maatsurya, matsurya, matsuri-ya, konkon.”
Yae’s hair fell past her shoulders untied. It was early summer, but her breath was visible as she sang as if it were freezing cold outside.
“Konkon, koko, kogo, goko, kokon.”
She was walking among the countless spiraling terraced fields that were Kaki Province’s most defining feature. Besides Yae, there wasn’t a single person outside. She heard no insects, and the wind was still. The disquieting atmosphere was intimidating, and she couldn’t help but feel that there were things lurking in the darkness. It felt like she had wandered into an unfamiliar, unknown land. Or rather, that time and space had shifted slightly… The desire to escape this strange place as quickly as possible pressed upon her heart.
Yae distracted herself from her feelings of impatience and faint dread by focusing on taking one step at a time. She noticed Kuroashi walking beside her, unsure if he was there to keep watch or to protect her.
“Maatsuro, matsuro, matsuro-e, manima.”
As Yae walked through the terraced fields, the fallen god Lady Bihin walked ahead of her, holding a rusted sword. The upper half of her body was naked, and below, she was wearing a short, pleated skirt. She wasn’t wearing shoes. Her body was concealed by thick miasma, and her appearance was only clearly visible when it thinned. She had growths that looked like human faces on the top of her head, chest, stomach, back, and both arms and legs, numbering eight in total. There were also smaller beast faces all over her body. Countless arms grew from her back to the left and right as if they were wings.