Tamamo the Fox Dancer / Rice Bin, Rice Bin, Rice Bin

"Rice bin, that's right! I'm the Dancer of Izu." The fox dancer smiled at the child.

Then she turned her head, her expression changed, and stared directly at Shirou. Her pretty face furrowed, and she pointed her index finger rudely at Shirou's nose, saying, "This stranger! You already have two children, and you still dare to bother me? Do you really think you can do whatever you want just because you're handsome? Even a lowly dancer who makes a living by performing has dignity! Rice bucket!"

"Um... you must have misunderstood?" Shirou initially thought the other person knew him from another world, but now it seemed that wasn't the case.

The dancer angrily threw the hairpin back into Shirou's hand, saying, "No! This hairpin! Take it back! I really feel sorry for your wife! Humph!"

Shirou took two steps back before catching the hairpin that had been thrown to him. Faced with the sudden accusation, he was quite bewildered and said in confusion, "No, I didn't mean that. It's just that the hairpin wasn't easy to sell, and your dance was indeed very beautiful, so I decided to give it to you."

"This is a phoenix-and-dragon hairpin used for courtship! Even I, a foreign dancer, know that locals use this to propose marriage! Once the woman accepts it, it means she has accepted the proposal. You beast! You're the worst of the beasts! Do you have a tail hiding behind you too?" The fox dancer had spent her life pursuing true love, so she couldn't accept such a promiscuous man.

"If you think I can take liberties with you just because I'm a dancer, you're wrong! I'm sorry! I don't want to be your concubine anymore! Even if you have a very handsome soul, I still won't allow it!" The fox-eared dancer in the blue robe puffed up her cheeks in anger.

"..." Shirou was speechless.

Although it's unclear what time period this fox clone is currently in, Shirou possesses the memories of multiple Shirou Emiya: a passionate fox beauty with many unspeakable dark histories, a desire to be a virtuous wife on the moon, and Gudako from Chaldea.

Especially given Mooncell's past, Shirou is quite familiar with this fox-like beauty. As a friend, it's fine, but when it comes to romantic involvement, he's afraid he can't handle it.

"Grandpa isn't a bad person. He adopted us and is even bringing Afeng and Tian-Zhu to the city. He's a really good person!" At this moment, the little girl ran up and said, standing up for Shirou.

The dancer's eyes widened, her large ears bobbing excitedly several times as she thought to herself, "Rice Jar!!! So he's an adopted child!"

Although it's an adoption, the atmosphere is wonderful, and a strong bond has formed between the adults and the child, indicating genuine care. That explains everything! Truly a noble and compassionate spirit!

"Actually, I really hate children..." The fox dancer blushed, turned her back to Shirou, and whispered while pointing her index fingers at each other.

However, when she turned around, she found that the spot was empty, and she stood up with her tail raised in disappointment.

"The rice jar has run away!"

At this moment, Shirou was holding the baby Tsuke in one arm and Afeng in the other, with her wrapped around his waist, and rushed outside. He didn't stop until he had turned several corners.

"Grandpa? Where are we going now?" Afeng asked, puzzled.

"Oh my!" Tasuke exclaimed, his eyes wide open.

"Alright, let's buy some more things and then find a place to stay. We'll leave town tomorrow," Shirou said, glancing at the sky.

"Really? That's great, Tsuke! This is the first time we've stayed in the city. We're city folks tonight!" Afeng said happily.

"Ya ya~!" The baby laughed too.

"Heh, this is clearly your first time in town too, isn't it?" Shirou was amused by their adorable antics.

Chapter 360 Tamamo fox dancer

The villages outside relied on the fields, while the people living in the city relied on trade. The streets of the city in Shimousa were lined with all kinds of shops. In addition to the local residents, you could even see some foreign missionaries and merchants engaged in maritime trade.

At the heart of the city stood the magnificent mansion of the lord of Shimousa, surrounded by various government departments. The city's residents, too, lived in luxurious mansions belonging either to officials or successful merchants. However, all of this was foreign to those who came to the city to make a living.

In some remote corners of the city, these ordinary people roamed, a melting pot of all sorts of people, from honest, simple citizens to farmers coming to the city market, skilled swindlers, street dancers, acrobats, and magicians.

People from outside also came here, carrying bamboo baskets and pushing wooden carts to attend the market. There were also low-ranking samurai with weapons around, looking for employers, which caused pedestrians on the roadside to quickly part and move to both sides of the road.

Turning off the busiest main street, we found ourselves in a corner where only a few vendors carrying loads on their shoulders and setting up stalls remained.

Halfway there, Tianzhu started crying. This child was very obedient; he wouldn't cry unless something really happened. It's said that children without parents mature early, and perhaps he had realized something.

"Tasuke? What's wrong?" Afeng picked up the baby, placed him on a chair, touched the diaper, and turned to Shirou, saying, "He hasn't pooped, Grandpa. Tasuke must be hungry."

"Then take out some steamed buns, dip them in water, and give them to him to eat," Shirou said.

"Yes." Afeng obediently did as instructed, but Tian Zhu had a soft piece of steamed bun in his mouth.

"Pah!" The baby smacked its lips and turned its head away in disgust.

Taking care of a baby who has lost its mother while traveling is the most troublesome thing. Fortunately, Tasuke has grown teeth and can be weaned. Although he may not be used to it all at once, as long as he has something to eat and can survive, there is nothing to complain about.

However, these principles cannot be explained to babies. Babies don't have any other way to communicate; they cry when they're hungry or uncomfortable, and then leave everything to the adults—that's their way of survival.

I ate it because I was starving all night, but it was just a steamed bun, which was really hard to swallow.

"Waaaah!" Tianzhu turned his head away and burst into tears, feeling wronged.

"This isn't the time to be willful. Let him cry if he doesn't want to eat. We'll feed him when he's hungry," Shirou could only say, hardening his heart. These days, there's no such luxury. It's not like later generations with imported formula and the effort to prepare nutritious complementary foods from fruits and vegetables.

"Tensuke, be good. Mommy and Daddy are gone. You have to be patient. When you're hungry, you have to eat so you can grow up quickly. Come on, eat up." Afeng comforted her younger brother, but as she spoke, tears welled up in her own eyes.

"Waaah..." Seeing his sister was sad, Tsuke sniffled and stopped crying, but still looked pitiful.

"Honestly, let's go, let me think of something." Shirou complained, turned around and picked up Tsuke, reached out and held Afeng's hand, and walked to a shop selling cows. There were cows giving birth inside. They found the shop assistant and, after much pleading, finally bought a jug of milk.

Then Shirou led Afeng to a teahouse that sold tea and snacks. Inside the teahouse were tables and chairs for customers to drink tea and chat. There were also long benches made of bamboo at the entrance for passersby to rest.

"Afeng, you stay here with Tsuke. I'll go in and ask the shopkeeper to heat up some milk. I'll be right back." Shirou bought a skewer of a variant of Japanese candied hawthorn, red candied apples, from the shopkeeper and handed it to Afeng, instructing her.

"Okay, Grandpa, it's so sweet~!" Afeng sat outside the teahouse, licking a candied apple while looking after her younger brother, and replied.

"Wow!" Tasuke looked at the glistening, Ruby- like candied apple in his sister's hand with curiosity, his eyes full of anticipation.

"No, you can't, Tasuke is too young to eat candy," Afeng said, licking the candy.

"Yay!" Tasuke protested.

"I really can't do anything with you, Tasuke. I'll just have to spread sugar on the steamed bun for you to eat then," Afeng said helplessly.

Shirou entered the teahouse and asked the owner, an elderly man with gray hair, to heat up the milk in the pot. At that moment, a group of people were sitting on a nearby seat chatting.

"Yes, things seem a bit unsettled outside lately, even though it's no longer the Warring States period," the old man muttered to himself while drinking tea.

"Hmph, our peaceful lives have long been disrupted. Only you city folks find it strange. Strange things have been happening all over the outside world for ages."

"What? What do you know about itinerant merchants?" a few tea drinkers nearby asked curiously.

The traveling merchant continued, "I haven't dared to go far out of town lately. I advise you not to travel at night if you need to go outside the city. Once night falls, black things roam everywhere, and there are frequent reports of people disappearing without a trace... Recently, something terrible has happened. Several villages were reduced to ruins overnight, slaughtered by monsters from who-knows-where."

The traveling merchant deliberately lowered his voice, as if telling a ghost story. It was very captivating, and everyone held their breath, listening intently, afraid to make a sound, lest the monster that had slaughtered the village suddenly appear.

"Were they bandits? Did anyone escape?" The tea drinkers swallowed hard and asked nervously.

The traveling merchant shrugged and said, "I don't know about that. Anyway, I heard the whole village was destroyed overnight. Even if we find him, he'll be dead there. This world is really tough. The people there are all honest, hardworking farmers. They used to do business with me every month."

"Hey! So you only heard about it from others." The tea drinkers waved their hands dismissively.

"Here you are, young man, your milk is ready." At this moment, the shopkeeper, who was also listening to the story at the counter, saw that the milk in the small pot on the stove had boiled. He poured the milk back into the pot, picked it up, and handed it to Shirou.

"Thank you for your trouble." Shirou took the milk jug with both hands and put down a few small copper coins as payment for firewood.

"By the way, young man, you're from a village outside, right? Do you know anything about it? What exactly happened with the village massacre?" the shopkeeper asked Shirou curiously.

"They're mountain bandits, murderers who commit violence after sunset. So it's best not to go out at night," Shirou replied casually.

"I knew it! They're bandits. It's not peaceful outside either." The tea drinkers nodded in agreement.

"Luckily, we're city dwellers. We have houses and jobs here, so we don't have to rely on farming to make a living," someone sighed with a sense of melancholy.

"Sigh, it seems I really can only do business in the city for the time being." The traveling merchant sighed helplessly, but to make money, you have to be alive to spend it.

"That would be the Akechi to do." After saying that, Shirou picked up the pot and walked towards the door.

"Hey, young man, don't go yet! I have some tea and snacks. Tell us more about those villages!" a customer called out.

This time, Shirou didn't answer and simply walked out the door.

There's not much to say; for the people here, being deaf and blind is the greatest happiness.

The villages outside have been attacked by bandits; that's all the people here need to know. It's like how adults scare children by telling them they won't go out at night if they're kidnapped by wolves.

However, if there are wolves in a place, adults would not use wolves to scare children. The same principle applies to 'mountain bandits'. Compared to mountain bandits who are also human, at least there are government soldiers to deal with them. But if it is an invincible monster, the whole city will be plunged into panic.

Grandpa, you're back!

"Yay!"

The little girl, Afeng, who was eating candied apples and had some red marks on her lips, would occasionally peek out from behind the door while holding her younger brother, Tanabu. When she saw Shirou come out, she immediately stood up and greeted Shirou with a smile.

"Okay, let's feed Tasuke some milk first, then find an inn to stay at," Shirou agreed with a smile.

Although it took some effort, we finally got the food for Tanabe. We fed him spoonful by spoonful, and the baby Tanabe finally calmed down. However, we still need to get him used to eating thin porridge as soon as possible. Perhaps we can develop a porridge with milk added for a rich, creamy flavor.

We wanted to at least make sure the children ate well, but we couldn't spoil them. In fact, the brown rice and coarse grains of this era were the best nutritionally, even though they didn't taste as good as white rice in later generations.

Realistically speaking, even if he sold those jewelry pieces, he would still have limited money left.

Just staying at this inn for one night, excluding meals, costs half a silver coin. With all the money I have now, I wouldn't be able to stay here for three months.

If you want to save some money, you can choose not to stay in such a spacious and bright guesthouse, but instead choose a cheaper room in a more remote corner.

Those places were basically slightly modified houses, with nothing inside except rows of wooden beds. A dozen or twenty people would squeeze into one room to get by for the night. It was like the cheap beds in later times, lined up one after another, costing fifteen or twenty yuan a night, and were called 'youth hostels'.

Traveling with a small child, it wasn't really suitable to stay in that kind of place, so we chose a medium-sized hotel just outside the intersection.

Shirou to a room in the corner of the second floor. The room was clean and tidy, and there was an incense burner on the tatami mat, the fragrance of which filled the room.

The little girl, Afeng, was holding her younger brother, Tsuke, who had finished drinking milk and was already asleep. At this moment, she also showed signs of weariness and yawned.

"Afeng, since you're tired, take a nap. I'll wake you up when it's time for dinner," Shirou instructed the little girl as he spread out the bedding on the tatami mat and arranged the pillows and blankets.

"Yes, Grandpa..." Afeng rubbed her eyes and obediently lay down on the bed. After a long day of running around, she had encountered things she had never experienced before, and the events that had happened in the village had also had a profound impact on her.

The child was already overwhelmed; his previous displays of energy were merely a byproduct of forcing himself to be strong and maintaining a tense state of mind.

As he stepped out the door and was about to go down the stairs, he bumped into the fox dancer returning from her performance.

"Oh my, isn't this the gentleman who ran away before? What a serendipitous encounter, hehe. Can we have a proper talk now? What should I call you?" The fox dancer in the blue kimono leaned against the stair railing, raised one hand, and greeted Shirou with a smile. Her eyes darted around, and her ears twitched slightly, seemingly in a good mood.

"Ah, hello, dancer-san, you can just call me Shirou." Shirou said somewhat awkwardly, surprised by the coincidence.

"Where are the little girl and the baby?" The fox dancer walked in, deliberately touching Shirou, her unique fragrance emanating from her.

"They're exhausted from walking all day and are asleep now," Shirou said.

"Then I won't bother you any longer. Well then... Shirou- san, please come to my room," the fox dancer invited.

"Huh?!" Shirou exclaimed in surprise.

So, Shirou was led by the dancer to her room. She seemed to have booked the largest room all to herself, separated by a paper door, though it was actually two rooms. The people in her group also seemed to have accepted her employment and were enjoying very good treatment.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. Although she is currently a dancer, she has harmed five or six people in the country and each time became the Lord's most favored concubine. Even if she didn't deliberately plunder the wealth, the rewards she received were astonishing enough.

The current Tamamo-no-Mae is merely using her identity as a dancer to indulge in worldly pleasures.

"Shirou- san, please have some. This is green tea from China." The fox dancer gestured for Shirou to sit down, then brought Shirou some tea and snacks, and brewed him a pot of fine tea. After doing all this, she faced Shirou and sat down herself.

"Excellent tea!" Shirou thanked her, picked up the teacup, took a sip, and praised it. As expected of the nine-tailed fox who had traveled to many countries, she had mastered the essence of tea brewing. Matcha was still popular in Japan, and this method of brewing tea with hot water was something only those who had been to China could appreciate.

The first sip of tea is bittersweet with a refreshing aroma. The second sip brings out the unique sweetness of the tea leaves, dispelling fatigue, relaxing the mind, and making one feel more energetic.

"I'm so glad you like it. I've always dreamed of doing something like this. Back when I was in China, the popular way to make tea was to add ginger and scallions. So a while ago, I even went back to find a master and learned how to make it." The fox dancer looked at Shirou and said with a happy smile.

"I just want the people who like it to be able to enjoy this flavor. Well, that's only natural for a good wife."

"I wonder if anyone would like such a virtuous wife? If someone asked me to brew this kind of tea for them for the rest of their life, I might just agree." The fox dancer displayed her virtues, giving Shirou a meaningful smile.

"Uh..." Shirou sat up straight, unsure of how to respond.

Chapter 361 Rice Jar Rice Jar Rice Jar

The fox dancer looked resentfully at Shirou, who sat upright and unmoved, and said, "I've made it so clear to you, yet you react like this. Do you really look down on me?"

"No, dancer-san!" Shirou looked up and called out to Tamamo-no-Mae.

"Rice Jar! Yes! What is it?" The fox dancer lowered her head shyly, muttering under her breath, "Why are you suddenly looking at me so enthusiastically..."

"That was a misunderstanding before. I believe you've noticed that I'm different from the people here," Shirou said sincerely.

"Well, at first I thought you were some kind of Onmyoji or exorcising family, so I observed you while you were dancing. But seeing you with a child, I stopped being wary. And~"

The woman's tail swayed from side to side, her clasped hands waving as she said coyly, "Didn't you give me a hairpin? Doesn't that make us a better match? I'm single now, and you're single too, so why don't we try dating?"

"I won't stay in this world for long," Shirou continued.

"If it's true love, no matter which world, past or future, I will follow you to the past. That's what a virtuous wife is!" The fox dancer said, clenching her fist. Her view on love has always been proactive and positive.

"I'm sorry! I no longer have the right to interact with other women. Ah... Of course! Dancer-san is a very charming and wonderful woman, and you will definitely find someone more suitable for you in the future," Shirou said, organizing his thoughts to comfort her.

Shirou thought to himself, for example, if someone likes another person so much that even their clone, Tamamo Nine, comes to fight for the Moon Holy Grail War and tries to steal their Master.

"Rice bin! Here it comes! 'Friend card'! Just a simple 'You're a good person,' and I'm dumped! Is this the kind of thing that's no longer fashionable for dancers? Has my charm fallen out of step with current beauty standards?" The fox ears perked up, and the fox dancer slumped to the ground, her face hidden behind her kimono sleeves.

"No, that! Of course you're a very charming woman, Dancer-san! I believe that charm will not change even after tens of thousands of years. Your peach-colored hair is so cute, your fluffy ears, your soft and shiny tail, because it's so well-groomed, it looks glossy even indoors, and your soft and bouncy paws..." Shirou waved his hands, trying to comfort her.

"Rice Jar! You clearly dumped me, yet you say such seductive things. You're doing this on purpose, aren't you? And every word you say comes from the bottom of your heart. You're the worst of beasts!" The fox dancer blushed, unable to bear the earnest praise, and said. After a moment, she realized what she meant and exclaimed, "Wait! My hand doesn't have any fleshy balls!"

"Ah, I'm so sorry! Because their faces are exactly the same, I accidentally confused them with the barking cat maid." Shirou immediately apologized.

"I'm furious! So your praise just now was about another woman! I didn't expect you knew my background from the beginning, and that you were even an ally of the enemy!" The fox dancer jumped up, glaring at Shirou, her tail bristling.