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Chapter 491: The Yamanashi Prefecture

After close to an hour of flying, the girls and I at last reached what seemed to a small town on the border of the Yamanashi Prefecture. After Lan Xiao Su checked our location using the GPS on her phone, that was confirmed.

We landed at the entrance to the tiny village, where two guards stood, stunned at the sudden visitors. After exchanging glances with the girls, it was decided that I would be the one talking, as expected. Clearing my throat, I walked up to the two guards, who wore expressions of utter shock.

“… Sorry for the sudden entrance,” I began, averting my gaze. “We are travelers from far away who have come here in search of a shrine. Do you have any idea where that might be?”

“A shrine…?” The guards glanced at another. “Wait, are you… humans?”

I gave a nod. “Most of us are. Is there a problem?”

I unleashed a little bit of my Chaos energy, just enough to let these two realize we aren’t people they could mess with. They shuddered at the feeling, and hurriedly shook their heads.

“N-No, there is no problem. As for your shrine… there are tons in the Yamanashi Prefecture, nearly a hundred. Which one are you talking about?”

“The one on top of Mount Kita,” I replied. “That’s closeby, isn’t it?”

The guards nodded. “You’re in luck. See that peak up there?”

He gestured towards an extremely tall mountain peak in the distance, and I gave a nod.

“That’s Mount Kita,” they explained. “The shrine you’re looking for is called the Seirei Shrine. But…”

“But?” I arched an eyebrow.

“… We’ve been getting some weird reports about that area lately,” they said after some hesitation. “If you’re planning on going there, be careful.”

“Weird reports, huh?” I rubbed my chin. “Can you give us details? That would be more helpful than just telling us to be careful.”

“That…” One of the guards began, but the other silenced him with a glare, and responded in his stead.

“We don’t know any details. If you want more info, though, I’d recommend heading past this town and continue northward, until you arrive at the base of Mount Kita. You’ll find another small village there called Inarishika. They should be able to help you there.”

Judging from their reactions, it was quite clear they did in fact know some details, but just didn’t want to tell us anything. While I could just threaten to nuke this entire town, that would make a scene, which is something I’d like to avoid. After all, if that Midnight Syndicate Archpriest got word of us coming here, he would undoubtedly flee. Now that would be troublesome, so I decided to simply accept what the guards told us and gave a nod.

“Which way to that village?” I asked, just for confirmation.

“You can go through our town right here,” the first guard said. “It’s not very big, and pretty hard to get lost in. Just continue forward until you reach the gates on the other end, and follow the path.”

“Yashiko…!” The other guard glared at his companion, and the dogman named Yashiko sighed.

“Listen… I know how you feel about outsiders, but these guys don’t seem evil. Judging from their power level, they can easily destroy this entire town right now if they wanted to, and yet they haven’t. What’s the harm in letting them pass through our village?”

“… Fine. But just know I won’t be held responsible for any damage they do,” the other guard growled and stepped aside.

“Yes, yes…” Yashiko shook his head as if he was exhausted by this, and then opened the gates for us. “Welcome to Hirokita village. Feel free to explore a bit if you like—we generally are pretty welcoming to outsiders, unlike my friend Izugami here.”

He shot the tigerman Izugami a sideways glance, then turned back to us and smiled warmly, inviting us inside. The girls and I nodded at each other, then entered through the wide open gates.

Inside, a beautiful village awaited.

It wasn’t fancy by any means. It certainly wasn’t technologically advanced or anything even remotely close to the sort. But it had a certain charm to it, one that held the power of nature.

The season was autumn. As such, beautiful orange and yellow leaves fell from the trees that surrounded by the small but lively village, dying the ground majestically. 

Quite unfortunately, the girls and I didn’t have time to explore or wander around, even though the guard named Yashiko had told us we were free to do so. We had a mission to complete—it was a shame, since the girls seemed to be having great fun interacting with the young demihuman kids, but there was nothing to be done. The only comfort I could give was a proposal to have kids of our own soon, and that wasn’t going to actually happen until all of this was over.

Still, the town was a great place. Although small, it had everything that was needed for self-sustainment—a clinic, a blacksmith, restaurants, a marketplace, a town hall for governing affairs, and a barracks that also served as a police station to resolve any conflicts inside the town should they arise. Given the size of this place, though, only a handful of security officers were really necessary to keep things in check. There was even an inn.

In the end, since Qing Yue insisted on it, we bought some food from the food stalls on the streets while we passed by. I guess after flying for so long, the girls were all tired. This should help supplement some of their energy, and since we were going to be walking for a bit longer anyway, it wasn’t really wasting any time.

The village was shaped in the form of a straight line, so getting from one gate to another was simple. Just like the guard Yashiko had said, it was difficult to get lost in a place like this. The guards at the other gate didn’t even question us when we left, and simply let us through without a word. I supposed that was because anyone who got let into the village were deemed safe, so there was no reason to question anything.

On the other side of the village, an open path lay. It appeared to be heading slightly upwards in elevation, and was surrounded by trees on either end. That made sense, considering we had landed in a forest earlier. It would seem both Hirokita Village and the one we were about to head to were surrounded by wilderness, much like the nature-loving Elves across the ocean.

“Hey… is it just me, or is it really… relaxing in here?” Feng Mian suddenly said, taking a deep breath in of the forest air. “It might just be the beautiful nature all around us, but… I feel like my mana’s recovering faster than usual.”

“Yeah, same here,” Yu An Yan said. “After all that flying, my body feels really tired, but strangely, walking through here is actually pretty peaceful and relaxing. I can feel my muscle ache going away.”

“Hm… it may be due to the richness in mana of this forest,” Ling Xin murmured in thought. “This definitely isn’t any ordinary forest, and it seems the closer we get to the mountain, the more rich the mana is becoming.”

“Huh, that’s interesting,” Qing Yue remarked.

Lan Xiao Su sighed. “If only we had the time to cultivate a bit…”

“Hm… perhaps, once we take care of the Archpriest, there will still be some time left for us,” Amane said. “This may also be a good chance to become one step closer to awakening a Battle Soul, which will be a great benefit to us, considering that our foes will only become stronger going forward.”

“Battle Souls…?” Axilia tilted her head. “What are those…?”

“Oh, the Death Realm doesn’t have those?” Feng Mian asked in surprise.

Ling Xin shook her head. “Not exactly. It’s more like… in the other Realms, the Battle Soul is fused with the wielder, granting them the powerful abilities using True Essence.”

“Wait, so… Battle Souls are really just manifestations of our souls that can actually use True Essence?” Yu An Yan asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Not True Essence strictly, but extremely concentrated mana, powerful enough to be comparable to True Essence,” Ling Xin replied.

“But if normal mana doesn’t work against antimagic… it’s hard to believe just because it is concentrated, it will be able to stand a chance,” Lin Luo said, pulling us all back to reality.

Obsidia nodded in agreement. “I doubt True Essence will work either, considering it essentially is just mana in it’s base, purified, and most powerful form. The theory of the two is the same.”

“That may be true, but still, Battle Souls will be quite helpful,” Mei Gui said. “Even if it does not work against antimagic, as we have already concluded, most of the Midnight Syndicate does not yet have access to that power. It is only the Four Cardinals and the Pope himself we have to be careful of.”

The girls and I all nodded in agreement, and together, we headed deeper into the forest, following the wide open paved path that should lead to Inarishika Village.