In the secluded and silent Imagawa Residence, the girl dressed in Juni Hitoe let out a long sigh of relief before plopping back down.
Imagawa Yoshimoto leaned back, supporting herself with hands that trembled from time to time.
"It's so hot! I've sweated so much. Come to think of it, isn't it almost winter already...?"
After wiping the sweat from her temples, she turned her head and grinned at Uesugi Tetsu, who had seen her in this state for the first time and was momentarily at a loss for words.
"—But at last, I've managed to bring you into the Imagawa Clan, Mr. Tetsu!"
Uesugi Tetsu watched Imagawa Yoshimoto, who was somewhat exhausted as she shed her Juni Hitoe layer by layer, her chest heaving violently. He estimated that her heart rate had already shot up to around 160.
He asked curiously, "Even someone as confident as you, Lady Yoshimoto, would feel hesitant and nervous about whether you could recruit me?"
"Ah."
At last, reduced to only two or three layers of underclothes and so hot that steam seemed to rise faintly from her body, Imagawa Yoshimoto nodded seriously. "Of course."
She folded the clothes one by one before turning back to Uesugi Tetsu.
"Because there may be more than one daimyo who gains the title of The World's People after successfully making the March to Kyoto, but so far, you are the only genuine Onmyoji in existence, Mr. Tetsu."
Uesugi Tetsu thought for a moment. With the current concentration of spiritual energy between Heaven and Earth, cultivating as an Onmyoji was indeed extremely difficult.
But it was not something that was completely impossible.
For example, the Onmyoji clans with long-standing traditions that had survived into the present age had surely existed during the Sengoku period as well.
They had