Yamiyo no Hotaru

Chapter 117

　"Ouch..."

　"Miss, excuse the slight bleeding."

　They were inside the encampment's ox-drawn cart surrounding Mayoiga. More accurately, they were inside Onitsuki's ox-cart carriage, which had transformed into Mayoiga.

　In the cart, seated in the center of the room with tatami mats, was Akou Murasaki. Her body, as she loosened her armor, bore various small and large abrasions caused when she was thrown into the air and crashed into trees. A maid beside her tended to those wounds, warning about cleansing and disinfecting them with hot water and shochu.

　"No, it's alright. Please proceed without hesitation. A person from Akou family to complaining over something like this... It's hot!? And it's bleeding!!"

　"I'm deeply sorry, Miss Murasaki. Our second princess was impolite..."

　Before she could finish her bravado, Murasaki screamed in pain, and in front of her, a member of the Onitsuki household, the servant Miyamizu Shizu, kneeled down and deeply bowed her head. With a respectful expression, she apologized on behalf of Onitsuki's second princess.

　As relatives, it was only natural for them to apologize. Onitsuki, one of the three prestigious families in the Northern region, had a history of over 800 years. Compared to the ancient houses in the Western with a history of over a thousand years, they might have seemed slightly inferior. However, for some reason, they had suddenly abandoned their direct descendant in front of the public... Even for cousin relations, there were limits.

　"To tell you the truth, I have already conveyed this to our second princess..."

　Shizu suggested that they should immediately go and apologize to their own princess, but the princess herself seemed indifferent and had disappeared somewhere.

　Despite searching frantically, she couldn't be found. Moreover, for some reason, the Onitsuki family's representative madam in charge of this matter didn't take it seriously. But requesting the distant first princess for help wouldn't work either, especially with preparations for a large-scale ritual.

　As a result, Miyamizu Shizu was left with no choice but to apologize to the Akou princess alone. It couldn't be helped. At the very least, she wanted to avoid rebelling against her lord.

　"Ugh... No, it's alright. These wounds are nothing more than scratches from playing around. There's no need to make a fuss about such trivial matters. Besides, there must be a deep consideration behind what my cousin did. ...And probably the reason she returned him was for that as well."

　"Sigh..."

　With tears in her eyes during the disinfection process, Murasaki tried to maintain as much dignity as possible as a representative of the Akou family. Honestly, she wasn't very good at it, and towards the end, her words were hard to understand, which left Shizu with doubts. But since that's how she expressed herself, there was nothing outsiders could say.

　"However, when it comes to your treasured sword..."

　"No, it's nothing significant. ...With this level of damage, it will be back to normal in ten days. Please inform the heads of the Onitsuki family that they don't need to worry too much about it."

　Ignoring Shizu's attempts to gather material for the second princess's condemnation or to strengthen her rebellion, Murasaki lightly brushed off the apology. In fact, she even seemed to accept Shizu's words at face value. Shizu, on the other hand, glanced at the youkai sword, and responded.

　"I deeply apologize once again."

　Quietly feeling exasperated and disappointed by Murasaki's lack of intuition or political sense, Shizu couldn't help but be astonished. But at the same time, her gaze fell upon the matter of the sword, her breath caught in her throat.