Yamiyo no Hotaru

Chapter 22

For Ako Murasaki, that girl was her ideal, her idol.

The exorcists are a family of people whose power becomes more concentrated and more powerful with each passing generation... and she was born into the direct lineage of the Ako family, which is a prestigious family, but she was too weak.

Certainly, she is more powerful than the rest of human beings. However, her spiritual power is far inferior to that of her grandparents, parents, and brothers. She had no talent in swordsmanship and was criticized every time she trained. The final words she was told were, "You are too inexperienced to fight in a real battle." So, even though she was about to turn thirteen this year, she had not yet had even a single experience in killing a youkai. Not even a single small youkai.

This was far behind her parents, grandparents, and brothers, who had killed several great youkai in the span of a dozen or so years. It could be said that it was bizarre. For a child of a commoner with no power, it was natural, but for a child of a prestigious group of exorcists who had been given enormous spiritual power from birth and had learned how to defeat monsters from outside the human race, this was unthinkable.

It is obvious how much her sense of inferiority would be stimulated if she were to inherit the youkai sword that has been handed down in her family, one of the easiest to handle and the most docile of all the swords.

'The spoiled daughter of the main family.'

'A lucky person who inherited the youkai sword from a family with good family background and mercy.'

'A disgrace to the Ako family who has never slain a youkai.'

It was inevitable that such gossip mixed with jealousy and envy would be thrown at her who was born into a prestigious family, was powerless, and yet was given the ancient youkai sword, even though it was the weakest one.

'I can fight now!!'

How many times has she told her family this? To her strict father who gave her strict training, or to her grandfather who always kept a calm smile on his face, or to her brothers who had already done their duty as exorcists in the imperial court or in their hometowns and had made great achievements. Sometimes she was stubborn, sometimes she was sweet, and sometimes she cried and begged them to let her fight against youkai. She wants to fight like everyone else. He wants to fight with everyone.

...but when they hear her lamentations, they all say in unison, coldly, 'It's too early for you.' Rather than exterminating youkai, she was told to be more like a town girl or a noble's daughter and was given costumes, ornaments, and cosmetics one after another. However, she was not interested in most of them, so they were gathering dust in the chest of drawers in her room.

Because of this, she felt miserable. She became sad. She was frustrated. Why can't I be the only one? Am I that unreliable?

Then that girl appeared in front of her.

It was probably at the celebration party where many of her relatives had gathered. At first glance, Murasaki was struck by the atmosphere of the girl.

She was a beautiful, glamorous, and beautiful girl. She had a manner like an adult, eyes that seemed to see through everything, a proud and somewhat arrogant smile... such that it was hard to believe that she was only one year older than herself.

Not long after that, she learned that her name was Kizuki Aoi, the daughter of her father's sister... in other words, her own cousin's sister. And when she was told of her talent and power, she felt jealous at first. It's natural because her grandfather, father, and brothers all praised her talent, while she herself was constantly criticized. No wonder the little girl was so angry. Why that woman!! How many times has she been angry at her? Every time her family praised her, she would get angry and stomp her feet in her room.