Gensokyo's Dimensional Black Shop

Page 67

"Sloth, life force cease!"

The barrage was still dominated by red and blue colors. Out of respect for the bunny girl's confession, Bai Ye didn't use the method of blowing it away in one breath this time. Instead, he respected her hard work and chose to use his dynamic vision and superb physical fitness to dodge the barrage one by one.

"Scattered Talisman - Moon of Truth!"

"Um……?"

Even though the spell card had been activated, Bai Ye couldn't see a single bullet. It wasn't until he activated his power, granting his eyes the vision of Helios patrolling the heavens, that Bai Ye finally saw the bullet barrage in what seemed like an alternate dimension.

Then he saw a bullet hit him right in the face... and it just went right through him??

Yes, that's right. Bai Ye just stood there obediently and did nothing. The barrage of attacks from the spell card passed right through him, and the spell card rules did not indicate that he was attacked.

So this spell card was just made to look cute, right?

After mentally complaining, Byakuya simply stood there nonchalantly, letting the barrage of bullets, whose wavelengths had been tuned to invisible frequencies by Reisen, pass right through him.

It's so cute that it's hard to complain... Hmm?

Looking down at his chest, where he had been hit by a barrage of bullets that had suddenly switched wavelengths, Bai Ye's facial muscles trembled slightly... This time, he wasn't trying to complain about the practicality of the spell card; it was just the sheer pain in his head that came from feeling like his intelligence had been completely outmaneuvered by a mere rabbit.

"Reisen..."

"Huh?" The bunny-eared girl, who was still immersed in the joy of finally hitting Bai Ye, responded.

"I'm not saying this out loud, but I never expected that you, the one who upholds the integrity of Eientei, would also learn to be so clever." After praising Reisen through gritted teeth, Byakuya flipped his wrist, and a spell card appeared in his hand.

"Sun Symbol - Shining Steed!"

Upon receiving the information from Emperor Inaba, Eirin Yagokoro, who was waiting at the entrance of Eientei, watched as a magnificent white horse emerged from the sun and crashed directly into the "defense zone" she had set up for Reisen. This was followed by a deafening roar and a heatwave that could be felt even here.

A few minutes later, Byakuya, carrying a Reisen in his left hand and an Inaba Tei that had been caught in the blast in his right, arrived at the scene and saw a silver-haired... girl waiting there with a bamboo bow?

Chapter 162 The City of the Moon and the Night Views

Why did they use such a heavy hand?

Seeing Reisen and Inaba Tei's condition, Yagokoro Eirin frowned.

"Finally met the main character, it wasn't easy." With a sigh, Bai Ye put down the two rabbit-eared girls, one big and one small, and looked at Yagokoro Eirin with a sigh of relief: "Now can you tell me what you're up to? Although I don't know why Yakumo Yukari thinks you listen to me, since I've already received the payment, I feel I should come and ask, just as a routine matter."

"..." So, is Her Highness the Princess being so tight-lipped this time?

Seeing that Byakuya looked completely bewildered as if she didn't know what had happened, Yagokoro Eirin was speechless and also felt a bit annoyed with the guy who was unwilling to admit his age... Since Princess herself hasn't said anything, why are you in such a hurry to break the ice?

At the Lost House, Yakumo Yukari, who was watching everything in real time, seemed to sense what Yagokoro Eirin was thinking and chuckled: "Since it's impossible to make Yuyuko leave voluntarily, then just give him another woman, so he won't have time to deal with Hakugyokurou, right? Anyway, all male creatures are big pigs... Ran, don't you think so?"

Yakumo Ran lowered her head and didn't say anything... Lady Yukari looks so scary right now.

"Blue~"

"Ah, Lord Zi, is there anything I can do for you?"

"How many times do I have to tell you, as my shikigami, I know exactly what you're thinking, if I want to." Yakumo Yukari sighed, casually grabbing one of Yakumo Ran's tails, but her gaze remained fixed on the gap in front of her: "Don't move, let me lean on it for a while longer."

Yakumo Lan: “…”

On the other side of the gap, after exchanging glances with Byakuya for a while, Yagokoro Eirin suddenly raised her hand and scattered a beam of light.

"Spell: World Within a Pot!"

Although she created a spell card with the same name after accepting the spell card system, this time she did not use a spell card, but a spell that she had gradually perfected over a thousand years after learning that Kaguya had the idea of ​​leaving the Lunar Capital. This spell was enough to hide her and Kaguya's whereabouts from the observation of the Lunar Capital.

Naturally, Yukari Yakumo, obsessed with spying, lost her first-person perspective.

"So stingy!" Yakumo Yukari scoffed, looking resentful. "It's like someone's really curious about what you said that's strange. I don't want to see it at all!"

Yakumo Lan: “…”

"Lan~ what do you mean by this? We really don't want to watch this at all, do you hear me!"

"..."

Ha ha.

Inside the world within the pot, looking at the expressionless and unperturbed Byakuya, Yagokoro Eirin nodded slightly with an indescribable feeling... at least her temperament was alright.

"Don't panic. This is just a space I temporarily created with magic. No one can enter here without my permission, such as that youkai sage who has been watching you since the beginning." Although Byakuya didn't say anything, Yagokoro Eirin still explained.

Bai Ye nodded in agreement, indicating that he understood.

"Didn't you ask me before why I created a fake moon to block the light of the real moon?" Yagokoro Eirin waved her hand, and three figures with indistinct faces materialized in the air.

“These are the three noble children of Japan during the Age of Gods: Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susanoo. However, two of them are not relevant to what I'm about to tell you, so I won't mention them.” With that, Yagokoro Eirin waved her hand, and the two figures representing Amaterasu and Susanoo shattered, leaving only Tsukuyomi's. Under Bai Ye's curious gaze, that figure slowly underwent some changes, starting with its face…

"Kaguya?"

“To be precise, Tsukiyomi is Kaguya’s father.” Yagokoro Eirin shook her head, denying Byakuya’s guess.

Then, she continued, "At the end of the Age of Gods, as one of the few gods who could still see the situation clearly, Tsukiyomi foresaw that as the times progressed, humans, who were originally just used by the gods to extract faith or for amusement, would inevitably lose their reverence for the gods step by step, and their faith would fade along with them. So she found me, and the two of us spent hundreds of years gathering three thousand people who were most steadfast in their faith in her at that time, and together we went to the then undeveloped moon and established the Moon Capital there."

Bai Ye listened to this with a blank expression... Although he knew that in different worlds, there would definitely be different interpretations of the sun, moon, and stars, which were inevitably present during the totem worship period, this version was truly the first time he had ever heard of it.

But then again...

"Although I don't know the exact era, judging from the words 'Age of Gods' you mentioned, I feel that this period is definitely not short... So how old are you exactly?"

"...That's not the point!" Abruptly changing the subject, Yagokoro Eirin tried to divert Byakuya's attention from her age with something else. "Anyway, after that, the gods on earth weakened or even disappeared one by one due to the loss of faith, while Tsukiyomi of the Lunar Capital grew stronger day by day with the blessing of those three thousand pure faiths. At that time, she and I both thought we had succeeded, until another unexpected event occurred later."

Without going into details about the unexpected event, Yagokoro Eirin abruptly shifted the topic to Kaguya: "To deal with that unforeseen event, Tsukiyomi first created two daughters, intending to use their offspring to complete one of her plans. However, later, a more perfect Kaguya appeared, who was ready to be used at any time, so the original plan was shelved again..."

"I always felt that the guy named Yueyejian was too casual?" Bai Ye couldn't help but complain.

To his surprise, Eirin Yagokoro nodded: "She is indeed very casual, she just does whatever comes to mind. After spending time with her, even I think her personality is... very unreliable."

"..."

"Everything was originally going according to our plan, but later, while I was studying Kaguya's talent, I combined it with my pharmacological skills and accidentally created a drug that could keep the user's body indefinitely at the moment of taking the drug. I call it the Medicine of Hourai. Because of this, Kaguya was banished to the earth. Later, when I came down as a messenger of the moon to take her back, she told me she didn't want to go back, so I killed all the messengers of the moon who came down with me and took her into seclusion."

For some reason, I feel a pang of sympathy for those Moon Messengers who came down with you...

"I originally thought that by staying inside Eientei, protected by Eientei's barrier and Gensokyo's Great Barrier, the people of the Lunar Capital wouldn't be able to find this place. However, not long ago, Gensokyo's Great Barrier entered its abnormal period once every sixty years, and Reisen received a message from the Moon Rabbit of the Moon... Now you know why I covered up the real moon and hung up a fake moon, right?"

"Are you trying to block the spying from the Moon's 2.2 capital?" After sorting through the information in his mind, Bai Ye guessed, then noticed a contradiction...

"If that's the case, then Yukari Yakumo should know your reason for initiating this incident. Why did I have to come to you?"

“How would I know what that girl is thinking? A thousand years ago, I could still deduce the purpose of some of her actions, but in recent years, unless I watch from beginning to end, I don’t really understand many of Yakumo Yukari’s actions.” Yagokoro Eirin rolled her eyes.

Chapter 163 Kaguya not only didn't admit her mistake, but instead started spouting nonsense.

Having figured out the reasons behind Eientei's actions, Byakuya said he could understand. After all, as an egoist, if he were in Kaguya's or Eirin's shoes, he felt he might have gone even further... but he wasn't.

"So, you still hope I can lift this spell?" Seeing Bai Ye's expression, Yagokoro Eirin immediately saw through his thoughts.

"Um... although this was the original purpose of my visit, it's fine if you don't understand." Although it involves a huge sum of thirty million, Byakuya's integrity is still quite strong. If this technique of concealing and creating a fake moon is really that important, then he can just wait until he gets back and return Yakumo Yukari's advance payment to her.

“Well then, if you really insist that we cancel that spell, it’s not impossible, but…” Yagokoro Eirin frowned and thought for a moment, then took out something that looked like a conch shell, held it up with an invisible hand and presented it to Byakuya, “Keep this safe.”

"Yan's Son Anbei...?" Taking the conch/shell, Bai Ye habitually cast an appraisal spell on it, only to be completely dumbfounded by what he saw.

"You... haven't read The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter?"

"Why should I look at this?" Bai Ye was even more confused.

"...It's good that you haven't seen it." Eirin Yagokoro replied strangely to Byakuya, then untied the pot-shaped world and turned to walk back to Eientei. Meanwhile, Emperor Inaba and Reisen, who had woken up at some point, quickly closed the Eientei gate on either side, leaving Byakuya outside.

Having been turned away without his knowledge, Bai Ye shook his head. Thinking of what Yagokoro Eirin had said when she pulled him into the world within the pot, he activated his divine vision and looked around. Then, he suddenly reached out and poked his hand directly into a spatial rift.

Zizzi~

A force comparable to a cutting machine was applied to his arm, attempting to physically grind Bai Ye's hand off.

"Aren't you coming out?" Now that he was certain that the other end of the gap was definitely Yakumo Yukari, not that big fox like her, Bai Ye shouted and increased the force in his hands. After barely widening the crack by a few centimeters, he grabbed one side of the crack with each hand and pulled hard.

hiss-

He pulled the crack open, creating a gap large enough for one person to pass through.

"It really is you. Didn't your big fox say you had other things to do? So you're busy spying here?" Seeing the blonde female monster lying on the bed yawning inside, Bai Ye's face showed an "I knew it" expression.

No wonder he felt something was off before. So the source of that feeling of being watched that he had been following was you?

"I'm really busy." Yukari Yakumo met Byakuya's gaze without any guilt. "After returning from Wang-chan's world, I have to take advantage of this once-in-sixty-years great barrier change period to quickly input what I collected from that world into the great barrier. Otherwise, it will be very tiring to start doing it after the barrier fluctuations return to normal."

Very...very tired?

I almost couldn't resist giving Yakumo Yukari a Rem after thinking that "after the Great Barrier returns to normal, we'll have to wait another sixty years."

"Hey, what kind of look is that? Putting aside how troublesome it is to further modify this barrier that already took us a lot of effort to build, you know that we are also responsible for the security of the entire Gensokyo. Do you think this is an easy job?" Seeing the dismissive expression on Byakuya's face, Yakumo Yukari waved her arm in dissatisfaction.

Knowing full well that the person in front of him was old enough to be his great-great-great-great-grandmother, Bai Ye considered him nothing more than an old woman and wasn't moved in the slightest by this shameless, malicious attempt to act cute...

Youyouzi?

Can Yuyuko and Yukari Yakumo be compared? (winking)

"Alright, no joke. Although you did receive payment, we still want to thank you for helping to resolve this incident. For us, Eirin is one of the few people we're unwilling to truly stand on the opposite side. Or perhaps for you, this is actually a win-win situation." Thinking of the Swallow Child Amber in Byakuya's hand that she had seen earlier, Yukari Yakumo covered her mouth and chuckled.

"I feel like you're thinking about something bad?"

"How could that be? A beautiful girl like me, even if she really had any feelings for you, Manager, it would definitely be admiration or respect... Could it be that you have any thoughts about someone who has kept their virginity for seventeen years?"

"..."

Seventeen years? How can you even say that? The words Eirin Yagokoro just said to me already prove that your age is at least in the four digits!

"By the way, Manager Bai, now that we've met you, we have another matter that requires someone's help. We originally wanted to ask Lan to go, but she's currently helping us maintain the Great Barrier, so... how about earning some extra money?"

"Do not want to."

"The reward isn't as high as what I got for the Eientei incident, but it's definitely not low either—20 million yen!"

"Tell me, what do you want me to do?" Under the bombardment of sugar-coated bullets wrapped in Origin Coins, Bai Ye couldn't even last a few seconds before succumbing instantly.

……

At the other end of the Eientei, after closing the door, Yagokoro Eirin ignored Reisen and Inaba Tei beside her, and instead turned around and carried Kaguya, who had appeared at some unknown time, into her room.

"Eirin~ Eirin! Let me go!" The princess flailed her limbs in an unseemly manner, trying to break free from the "master's grip".

"Letting you go is no problem, but there's one question you need to answer first... Are you really sure you've thought it through?"

"What have you decided?" Kaguya looked up at the ceiling guiltily.

"Don't play dumb. I've already given away the Swallow's Child Bead, plus the Dragon Jewel from before..." Yagokoro Eirin slapped Kaguya's forehead with a chop, looking at the girl who had been with her for countless years with complicated emotions.

"Anyway, I think he's pretty good. Even if he's just human, he'd definitely live longer than many immortal beings. If all else fails, I'll give him a pill. Besides, he's not like other male youkai who all have blue faces and fangs; I find them disgusting." Kaguya whistled. "Most importantly, he and I have a lot in common. Speaking of which, if you really had to find a spouse, Eirin, which of these men in Gensokyo would you choose?"

"I..." Although she knew that what Kaguya was saying was all nonsense, and that she had managed to stay single for so many years, Yagokoro Eirin still wanted to say something... After hearing Kaguya's words, she actually felt speechless!

Chapter 164 A Shrine Maiden with Integrity? Only because of her peers~

Outside, in a small town with a population of less than 100,000, Bai Ye followed the flow of people into a fast food restaurant, sat down, ordered some food casually, and then began to stare blankly...

That scoundrel Yakumo Yukari, when she was sent to the outside world to guide the two gods, she was quite famous. However, with the decline of faith in recent years, the god, who is now half-crippled, entered Gensokyo. But she only gave him a general location, suddenly opened a gap and threw him into this vicinity, and then never spoke again.

Bai Ye was so angry that he almost went back to Gensokyo and gave that old woman a "White Horse" nuclear bomb.

However, considering the 20 million he had already acquired, Bai Ye did not do that. Instead, he began to wander around the area. Since, as Yakumo Yukari said, those two gods were quite famous during the Age of Gods, even if they had been weakened as faith declined, there should still be people around here who had heard of them, right?

So when the waitress brought his food, he stopped the waitress who claimed that nothing within a radius of 800 miles could escape her notice, but the final result left him somewhat disappointed.

It can only be said that the mainstream of the outside world now is technology. The cultivation civilization, which was glorious for a long time thousands of years ago, is now in decline. With the arrival of the Dharma-ending Age, perhaps only paradises like Gensokyo or Luna City, created by great supernatural beings, can still remember that era.

After popping a bite of a reasonably tasty snack into his mouth, Bai Ye stared at the bustling scene outside the floor-to-ceiling window, lost in thought.

……

At the same time, the kitchen.

The waiter who had just been questioned by Bai Ye spoke to the supervisor and then hurriedly brought a girl with long green hair, who looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old, to the room.

"Sister Li Hua, why did you drag me here?" The green-haired girl blushed slightly as she endured the strange looks from guests and colleagues.

"Sanae, I remember you once said that your family used to run a shrine, right?"

“Yes.” The green-haired girl, Sanae Kochiya, nodded.

"So what's the name of the shrine?" The woman Sanae called Rika-nee paused for a moment, then asked in an even more urgent tone, "Is it called Moriya Shrine? Is any of the deities enshrined in the shrine Yasaka Okami?"

"Rika-nee, you're finally going to go to the shrine with me?" Sanae excitedly grabbed the woman's hand, looking like she was about to cry tears of joy. "I knew that as long as I kept going, I would definitely be able to collect faith for Lady Kanako and Lady Suwako!"