Yamiyo no Hotaru

Chapter 86

　The relationship between the respected Ako family in the western region and the name-worthy Onitsuki family in the northern region is not as ancient as some may believe.

　The Onitsuki family, led by the Miyataka family, had a longer history of interaction with the exorcism old families of the north, due in part to the seclusion and exclusivity of the northern province. However, the depth of this interaction was also a concern, as the complex and convoluted blood ties born from years of contact often led to the takeover of families.

　This is exemplified in the case of the Onitsuki family, who, about two hundred years ago, lost many members of the family, including the head of the family, due to the failure of a secret ritual. The 15th generation head of the family, a young child at the time, married into the Miyataka family for assistance. However, this also meant that the Onitsuki family was under the shadow of the Miyataka family, which caused significant opposition. This opposition only grew when it was revealed that the next generation of the Onitsuki family would marry a woman from the Miyataka family. And if a Miyataka's woman was given to the next generation, the ulterior motive would be too obvious.

　...That is why Onitsuki Moriyasu Takesada, the 16th head of the Onitsuki family, divorced his wife from the Miyataka family.

　He was prepared to be called an outrage or a rash act, but he still did not want too much interference from the Miyataka family and others, so he chose to take the daughter of the low-ranking member of his family, Onitsuki Kochou, as his second wife. Although the number of women in the family had been reduced, it seemed to him that it was a better option for the family's stability as opposed to marrying a woman from elsewhere. Kochou was chosen due to her spiritual power and potential.

　It was during his reign that the friendship with the Ako family began.

　During the "Youkai Chaos of Toyoyanagi Tsurumi," a massive chaos of the youkai beings lasting four years, hundreds of thousands of people and Youkai perished, which made it the largest uprising of its time. At the behest of the Emperor, many government soldiers and exorcists were deployed to crush the turmolt, which also resulted in many casualties.

　The Onitsuki family, led by Moriyasu Takesada, also participated in the battle. However, they lost many members of the family, including his younger sister, as well as several times that number in servants and hidden group members. And it was during such a terrible battle that he and the head of the Ako family crossed paths.

　In a desolate battlefield, two people met and naturally became friends after realizing their mutual sword-fighting skills complemented each other and they had survived many life-and-death situations together, despite their old age.

　Their friendship lasted at least for a long time because of the distance between their territories and their duties, and when Takesada died, the former head of Ako, who had already retired, attended his funeral in person.

　When the seventeenth head of the family died, the Miyataka family and other old families in the northern part of Ako again approached the Onitsuki family, but this time the Onitsuki family refused their request. However, the wife of the head of the family being a peasant was not a suitable appearance, and the Ako family, a prestigious family of exorcists in the western region, with whom the previous generation had formed a friendship, was welcomed by the Onitsuki family.