Shirou and Village Chief Akechi / The Chosen Sacrifice...

"I see." Shirou nodded. "Is it possible that Kameda is hiding somewhere in this village? He might be hiding in someone's house, or even outside?"

"It's winter now, if we stay outside, we'll freeze to death at night," Nene said.

"Never mind that," Kinoshita patted Shirou's shoulder lightly. "Where was I in the story about the sacrificers?"

"You're at it again." Nene's face hardened. "Why are you going around talking about that again? Aren't you afraid Akechi will scold you?"

"Hmph, that old stubborn man is too rigid."

"You mentioned how to select the victims," Shirou steered the conversation back to the main topic.

"Oh, right, right, that thing is quite interesting." Kinoshita held up a finger. "First, the residents of this village would gather at the meeting place, which is actually just a villager's house. Then, everyone would sit down in a circle."

"Men and women forming a circle?"

"It's like playing musical chairs, except everyone has to pass around a very big box."

"Box?."

"Hmm, it's said that there's a token of the gods inside." Kinoshita nodded mysteriously, then looked at Nene as if seeking her agreement.

"You, you clearly haven't even watched it, yet you talk like you witnessed them selecting people firsthand."

"You haven't seen it?" Shirou couldn't help but sigh. This old man was really unreliable.

Chapter 1154 Shirou and Village Chief Akechi

"Ouch!" Kinoshita scratched his temple. "Only people who have lived here for more than ten years can participate in the selection of sacrifice participants. I'm not qualified yet."

"Why more than ten years?" Holmes keenly sensed the problem.

"Who knows! Anyway, if you haven't been there for ten years, you can't participate!" Kinoshita scoffed.

Sitting opposite him Nene said veiledly, "They probably don't want people who just want to join in the fun to be there."

Shirou observed the elderly couple. They did not exhibit any magical reactions, and their mental state was very peaceful. Although the old man was determined to become a sculptor and was still quite childlike, this was also a family dynamic.

However, this ten-year restriction is something that people are concerned about.

This world is somewhat similar to the end times. The mana in the atmosphere has almost disappeared, and the magic power in people's bodies is also degenerating. Only a few people can still use magic, but its power is much weaker than before. It is no longer possible to unleash magic with the power of a cannonball.

More often, it's something like a veiled curse.

"In short, everyone passes the box around, singing as they pass it clockwise to the next person. When the song ends, the person holding the box is chosen."

"Was I selected?" Shirou thought to himself, or perhaps it should be said that he was not selected?

"I heard that at first, the village chief would roll dice to decide how many times the song would be sung. Otherwise, if it was only sung once, the person sitting near a certain spot in the circle would win each time. However, in the past, they really used to sacrifice living people, and the atmosphere was extremely tense. After all, it was a life-or-death lottery, and everyone agreed that it was either you die or I die. It was very tense." Kinoshita became more and more excited as he spoke.

"You mean 'in the past'? So, those chosen now won't actually be sacrificed alive?"

Hearing that in the 21st century, in a developed country like Japan, there are still villages that still practice the custom of selecting sacrifices and locking them in caves, really doesn't feel real.

A scene flashed through Shirou's mind—in the mountain they had just driven into, in that cave in the rock wall, a chosen victim was imprisoned, pounding on the rock wall and shouting hoarsely, "Let me out!"

"That's exactly how it is," Kinoshita said with a smile. "It's not as extreme as it used to be. I don't know when it became just a formality. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to bring myself to say such a terrifying custom. In the end, those are just legends. If it were really that effective, this place would probably have been taken over by the powerful and influential long ago."

"I see. So that cave is no longer effective?"

"I don't know if anyone has tried it, but the villagers don't take it seriously anymore. After all, it's modern times, there are no bandits left in the mountains, and crop yields have increased. As long as you're willing to work, you won't starve to death."

In short, sacrifices no longer require actual death. The sacrificer only needs to be confined in the cave in the rock wall for five or ten days as a token gesture. As for how many days to be confined, it is said that it is decided by rolling dice, but no one will die. As for the exit, although it will be blocked, the villagers will assign 'divine messengers' to deliver food there."

"A divine messenger?"

"The person responsible for preparing food for the cave's deities is called a 'messenger of the gods.' The food must first be offered to the gods, and then the person making the offering can begin eating after fifteen minutes."

Who should take the position?

"Usually, it's a family member of the person offering the sacrifice. If there are no relatives, he can choose one himself. Of course, the prerequisite is that the person must be from the village, otherwise approaching rashly will offend the gods." Kinoshita talked on and on. This person had clearly never participated in the sacrifice, and frankly, he was ostracized by the villagers, yet he was so talkative. This is what they call pretending to be an expert.

"Although those imprisoned inside cannot enter or leave, there is a gap at the entrance that can fit a small bowl, and food is delivered through that. They should be able to endure being imprisoned for only about ten days. If they feel unwell, the divine messenger will help notify the village chief."

"Does offering sacrifices like this really have any effect?"

"Now it feels more like the Ghost Festival or Qingming Festival, like a fixed ritual."

"So it's held regularly?"

"No," Kinoshita immediately denied, "It was an Akechi decision."

"Is that the village chief you just mentioned?"

"Honey, wouldn't it be better if you went to see Akechi?" Nene spoke up from the side. "Introduce Mr. Shirou to him; he might know who Mr. Shirou is looking for." Nene tapped the photo of Kameda on the table.

"No need, he definitely won't give us a friendly look anyway. Akechi is so stubborn and doesn't understand human relationships at all; outsiders are only destined to be disliked by him. You saw how he openly showed his disgust when we first arrived."

"What kind of person is that Village Chief Akechi?" Shirou asked Nene. He thought he might as well pay him a visit tomorrow.

"Akechi, he's a heartless, cold-blooded person," Kinoshita muttered from the side.

"For some reason, this person just doesn't get along with Akechi. Is it paranoia? But it's true that the village chief has always been unwilling to accept us as part of God Manifest Town." Nene chuckled lightly.

"But Akechi isn't a bad person. He's probably in his fifties, thin, with thick eyebrows, a meticulous person, always with a stern face, I rarely see him smile."

"He never smiles at all, that stubborn guy."

"Akechi is doing his best to take care of the whole village. His family has been responsible for leading the villagers for generations, Akechi probably feels it's his duty. I heard he inherited the family business in his early twenties. Even though the village chief is no longer hereditary and must be elected, the villagers will still vote for his family. Akechi is not only the head of our village now, but the representative of the whole village. God Manifest Town may be small, but it takes a lot of effort to take care of it."

"That's true." Kinoshita agreed. "When Akechi's father was the village chief, the village seemed to be on the verge of collapse. I heard they were even thinking of bringing in a waste disposal plant or merging with another village."

"Akechi has been working very hard to help the village get back on its feet."

"How did he manage to rebuild the village?" Shirou asked. Kinoshita replied simply, "Who knows? I don't know, but things seem to be doing better now, don't they? Or maybe Akechi did something Akechi and made some dirty money."

"Hey, I've told you so many times, don't talk nonsense! It takes so much effort to unite the whole village, it's hard for ordinary people like us to imagine," Nene said earnestly.

"I see." Shirou was Nene what Nene wanted to say.

"Those extraordinary people are the ones who worry about the world's troubles before enjoying its pleasures, and they must make decisive decisions, right? They are willing to sacrifice their own interests to shoulder all responsibilities."

"It's impossible to find someone like that these days!" Kinoshita retorted immediately. "Akechi is so ruthless entirely for his own sake; it's self-preservation! Self-preservation! Not just the village chief, but all the other officials in Japan are like that."

"You're being too extreme."

However, considering that the old man was a former civil servant who resigned from the municipal government and moved here, I always felt that what he said had a different kind of persuasiveness.

Chapter 1155 The Chosen Sacrifice

Shirou took a sip of tea and looked around the room. Several five-tiered drawer cabinets that looked quite old stood side by side along the wall. On the tatami mats on both sides were some exquisite stone and wood carvings of animals and rocks. Hats, bags, and other miscellaneous items were scattered around. Everything was arranged in an orderly manner, indicating that this family had a very competent head of household.

"And then? Where were we? Oh right, anyway, the timing of the sacrifice is determined by Akechi."

"When to offer sacrifices? How is that decided?"

"Well, there must be a certain method, like divination, since it's a custom passed down through generations. But once the decision is made to hold the sacrifice, everyone in the village will be notified."

Is the practice of offering sacrifices inside the cave a custom unique to this village?

"Yes, it used to be a village." Kinoshita clapped his hands. "Right now Hatano is serving as a sacrifice. This time it's been a long time; he was locked up a week ago. Otherwise, you could have seen him. He would have been happy to help you."

"That's right." Nene nodded repeatedly. "Hatano is always kind and hospitable." As she spoke, she looked away, as if gazing at the rock wall where Hatano.

"Could you take us to see the other side of the cave?" Holmes asked.

"Basically, when someone enters the cave, they cannot get close to the mountain," Kinoshita continued to explain.

"But didn't you just run off into the mountains?" Shirou asked, and Kinoshita one eyebrow and said, "Anyway, they don't consider me part of the village, so who cares?"

"If you keep saying those petty things, they still won't invite you to the meeting next year when it's time for the sacrifice," Nene joked, but Kinoshita replied seriously, "That won't do."

His attitude softened immediately. "I just went into the mountains to find wood for carving, that's all. Please do me a favor and don't tell anyone I went into the mountains, okay?" Kinoshita Shirou clasped his hands together in prayer.

Is it a strict rule that we can't get close to that mountain?

"I think it must be a rule passed down from the time when human sacrifice was actually practiced, because you might hear the sounds as soon as you enter the mountains."

"Sound?"

"Think about it, would the victims locked inside just resign themselves to death? Even though the villagers might have gagged them beforehand, they could still hear groans or other sounds outside the cave, right?"

At this point, Kinoshita frowned. "That's why the villagers were determined to stay away from the cave, pretending not to see or hear anything. That's why going out during the sacrifice is strictly forbidden."

"I see."

"That's what so-called customs are like, right? They're all about concealing something, and they come up with a bunch of far-fetched, seemingly plausible fallacies."

"What are you referring to as 'something'...?"

"Things like fear or guilt, and desires, that's about it. Customs and legends are created to embellish these things."

"I see." Shirou hadn't expected Kinoshita to have such insights; perhaps he really did have the potential to become an artist.

"I think that the Loch Ness Monster, the Yeti of Tibet, and the Tsuchinoko snake of Japan—these mysterious creatures that have been sung for many years—are all based on the same principle."

Are you talking about that legendary, mysterious creature?

"Yes, those are the famous monsters. At first, some people used these rumors to cover up their bad deeds, and then others wanted to attract tourists from other places, but they really couldn't find anything special about it."

Upon hearing rumors of monsters, they simply pretended to believe them and spread the word widely, with everyone working together to make the falsehood seem real. Thus, these monsters, with eyewitness accounts but no surviving evidence, were taken for truth.

As they chatted, the sun began to set. The house was exposed to strong afternoon sun, and the setting sun bathed the interior in a reddish glow. Shirou, Holmes, and the two old men continued their conversation, one sentence after another, until it gradually grew dark.

"I don't think you'll be able to move the car today," Kinoshita asked.

Indeed, it's impossible today. Shirou glanced at the dim sky outside, but since his original destination was God Manifest Town, it was still within his plan. The only difference was that the car was parked a bit further away, and it sounded a little unnatural.

"In that case, you can sleep at our house tonight," Kinoshita said loudly.

Shirou was about to decline, but Nene continued, "I've already cooked enough rice for four people and grilled four fish, so please have dinner with us."

So Shirou and Holmes decided to stay. It might be a good thing to have a new family to stay with, instead of directly encountering the natives who seemed to be from Magecraft family.

After all, in the eyes of outsiders, Magecraft family are indeed a group of dangerous eccentrics. They are the people abandoned by the world, holding values from thousands of years ago, destined to be unable to integrate into urban society, and can only live in seclusion in the deep mountains.

On one hand, Shirou didn't think there would be any inns or guesthouses nearby, and the Kinoshita couple's kindness was a great help; on the other hand, he also hoped to get more information about the village from them.

"Anyway Hatano are locked up in the cave and won't be able to come out for the next few days." Kinoshita brought up the topic again at the dinner table.

"Who helped bring food to Hatano while she was in the cave? You said there would be a 'divine messenger,' so it was Hatano's family?" Shirou asked, taking a bite of the grilled fish in front of him. This saury was rather fatty, but after being grilled to perfection, the skin and the inside were both grilled to a deep reddish-brown, making it very delicious.

"Hatano is all alone."

"Really?" Shirou had always assumed that Hatano was married.

"Sigh, I heard he lost his lover and has remained single ever since."

"That really happened?"

"Yeah." Kinoshita gave a gossipy, irresponsible smile. "His consistent personality is quite endearing, isn't it? Hatano is just that kind of person."

Shirou thought to himself, "To put it nicely, he's loyal to one person, but he's probably also a bit of a eccentric person. But he has no right to judge others."

He also noticed that Nene was looking at the talkative Kinoshita with a worried expression.

"So, the person who delivers food to Hatano is an elderly woman named Songbai, who is over ninety years old. Hatano is incredibly lucky; thanks to him, the old woman is always acting as his messenger, so busy that she doesn't even have time to deal with dementia."

"Fortune telling?"

"That's right. The village holds a festival about once every one or two years. In the past nine years, it has been held about six or seven times. Well, three of them were held in Hatano. That's not a small number, is it?" Old Man Kinoshita said with a gloating smile.

Chapter 1156 The Demonic Clan in the Village

"Oh dear, I had no idea," Kinoshita glanced at Nene. "It's this person who thinks it's strange. She said that Hatano keeps being the sacrifice. But like I said before, the sacrifice is drawn through a rosary, so it's probably just a coincidence; the number of times a song is sung is also decided by rolling dice, so it's just that Hatano's seat always seems to be the winning one."

One-half? This isn't even a matter of luck anymore. Even if a casino cheats, they'll at least keep it to a 6:4 ratio, let alone this kind of troublesome task.

"But honey, don't you feel like you always draw Hatano?" Nene's tone was gentle, but she seemed to have something she needed to say. She put the bowl back on the table.

"This girl is really something. She even said that Akechi might have deliberately framed Hatano as a sacrifice." Kinoshita said with a chuckle, still acting like a playful old man, but Nene looked quite serious.

"That's not what I meant," Nene hurriedly waved her hand, still holding her chopsticks, her demeanor as adorable as a teenage girl. "I just felt something was off."

"Indeed, Hatano's number of sacrifices has become strange," Shirou interjected. What kind of connection exists between Kameda, Akechi, and Hatano? The cave in this village also seems to possess a mechanism similar to a wishing machine. Things Hatano and more complicated. Shirou decided to listen to what was going on here before taking any action.

"Do you think it was Akechi scheme to frame Hatano?" Holmes asked Nene. "What was his purpose?"

"What purpose could there be!" Kinoshita, spitting out a few grains of rice as he spoke. "Those two are mortal enemies, or something like 'water and fire incompatible.' Anyway, they can't even stand the way the other breathes, that's all. I heard that Akechi and Hatano are the same age, and they used to be very close, but I don't know when they stopped talking to each other, and now they don't even look at each other. Their relationship is terrible."

"Is that so?" Shirou looked at Nene.

"Hmm." Nene's tone was somewhat forlorn.

"Sigh, the main problem is the vast difference in their social status." Kinoshita said with an expression of complete understanding, "One is the village chief's eldest son, and the other is a carpenter's son. Their statuses are simply different."

"It's the 21st century, do people still care about social status?"

"This kind of thing exists anytime, anywhere. I heard their family is very strict; their children are forced to learn a bunch of random things from a young age, supposedly the knowledge required to become a village leader or village chief."