Yamiyo no Hotaru

Chapter 39

Fusō-kuni, which was filled with an abundance of immense spiritual power and regarded the central land, as well as the surrounding lands and other islands as its territory, except for the central region, was ruled by a few points and lines and had several "foreign enemies" both within and outside its territory, both human and youkai.

　No, perhaps the problem may be more serious inside than outside of the territory. At least from the perspective of trading and countermeasures against the youkai, Fusō-kuni has long maintained friendly relations, sometimes even providing military and financial support, with the city-states on the mainland coast that became independent after the fall of the dynasties and the exiled empire of southern colonies that was established after the empire split. So, the immediate enemy of this nation is within its own ranks.

　Within Fusō-kuni, several areas where calamity youkai have established territories are basically off-limits and sealed off by patrolling soldiers. In particular, there is the cunning and arrogant Tengu in the mountain villages in the steep mountains not far from the central land, and the Innsmouth-like Kappa who have their roots somewhere in the southern archipelago and often attack fishing villages and port cities on the coasts and rivers. Both of these creatures have unusually high intelligence and advanced societies for youkai and are therefore representative of foreign enemies that Fusō-kuni aims to eliminate and exterminate in the future.

　But even though youkai are the virtual enemies of Fusō-kuni, that does not mean that the same humans are not hostile to each other.

　Fusō-kuni, which was established to overthrow the world of youkai and to establish a world of humans by humans for humans, originated as a union of human settlements and villages scattered in fear and hiding, mainly in the western and southern regions of the country. After the central part was seized from the monsters, the Fusō-kuni expanded its sphere of influence by settling in all directions from this base.

　In the process, they have made contact with other human groups and have merged with them, but not all of this has been accomplished peacefully. Many of these groups, for various reasons, opposed and antagonized the Fusō-kuni. The Kumaso and Hayato, who were powerful in the southern part of the region, and the mountain peoples who lived scattered in the mountains and hunted in various places, are typical examples of such groups.

　The Imperial Court called the tribal groups living in the northern and eastern parts of the country "Ezo (Also known as Ainu in Japan)" and tried to absorb them sometimes by force of arms, and sometimes by persuasion.

　In reality, however, they did not have a single ethnic or national identity, and the complex relationships among the tribes make it difficult to lump them all together as Ezo.

　In fact, the culture and internal conditions of each group differ to a greater or lesser degree, ranging from those like the Saeki clan who aggressively attacked other Ezo tribes under the control and support of the Imperial Court to those who slaughtered the tribes whenever the Court established settlements on the borders of their areas of influence. To recognize them as a single cultural group would be an incomprehension on the part of the court.

　In the original game, the remnants of the "Youkai War," the "Rescued Youkai Group," who were hostile to the main characters and aimed at the collapse of the Imperial Court, took full advantage of these conflicts on the human side. They took advantage of the tribes that had been oppressed by the Imperial Court and the tribes that had been destroyed by the Imperial Court and used them as slaves and thus, a bad ending happened.