The woman opened the white cloth wrapped around the child, revealing his arm. It was gone from the shoulder down, and the wound looked fresh. Though she had tried to treat it, it was still bleeding.
A child only a few years old...
"Auntie, put him down first..."
Kikyo's expression changed when she saw the boy's wound. She immediately took off the pack she was carrying.
She took out some white powder and sprinkled it over the boy's severed arm, then began treating the wound further.
As a shrine maiden, one needed more than the ability to drive away demons. One also had to know how to pray for blessings, tell fortunes, perform funeral rites... and understand medicine.
In fact, shrine maidens in this era all knew a little about medicine.
They were practically the doctors of their villages or towns.
After treating the wound, Kikyo stopped only when she was sure it had stopped bleeding.
By then, the little boy on the ground had stopped crying. The medicine Kikyo had used clearly had a painkilling effect. He just gazed up at her, unblinking.
"Can you tell us what happened? Why was his arm cut off? It looks like it was severed with a single stroke... Who could be so cruel?"
As she treated the wound, Kikyo had realized that the boy's arm had been cut clean off.
As a kind-hearted shrine maiden, she found it hard to accept.
"It was a passing samurai. My child looked at him a few times, and the samurai cut off his arm." The woman held her child as tears streamed down her face.
Even though the bleeding had stopped, her child's life was all but ruined. In this era, it was extremely difficult to support oneself with one arm, let alone do anything else.
"A samurai..."
During the Warring States period in Eastern Island, samurai held power on par with the nobility. For a time, they had even become the most powerful class in the land.
They called it... rule by the samurai.
Samurai had the right to kill without punishment... and this led many ill-tempered ones to kill people just to test their blades.
Of course, this right to kill without punishment applied to ordinary commoners.
"Should we go take a look?"
Yae Sakura looked at the silent Kikyo and immediately guessed what she was thinking.
As a shrine maiden, her duty was to exterminate demons and protect people.
But when it came to humans, especially samurai of high status, she had no right to interfere.
In this world of the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, shrine maidens held a fairly high position. But although many samurai might not be as strong as shrine maidens, their status was still higher. Kikyo had no right to interfere.
Especially in this era, letting samurai test their blades on people was considered an honor of citizenship.
It was legal...
"But..."
"Come on! I'm not just a shrine maiden; I'm a samurai too. Let's go have a chat with that samurai!" As she spoke, Yae Sakura took Kikyo by the hand.
"Shrine Maiden, and you too, Rabbit... No, Donkey Demon Lord. They're samurai, and..."
The boy looked at Yae Sakura and Higokumaru beside Kikyo, but he wasn't afraid of them.
Although it was obvious the two weren't human, they were companions of this holy shrine maiden, so they probably weren't bad people.
After all, in this era, it was common for onmyoji, shrine maidens, and priests to have nonhuman shikigami or familiars by their side.
"D-Donkey Demon..."
A donkey? What the hell?!
The moment she heard the little brat call her that, Yae Sakura's sympathy for him vanished.
"I'm sorry, Rabbit Demon Lord! Children say things without thinking. Please don't hold it against him. If someone must be punished, punish me instead." The woman immediately fell to her knees before Yae Sakura.
Even though she traveled with a shrine maiden, she was still a demon.
"I'm a fox, not a rabbit or a donkey!!!"
"Yes, yes, Fox Demon Lord!"
"..."
"My lady, our village is just ahead!" The woman held her child in her arms, her voice full of respect. Her child might only have one arm from now on, but at least he was alive. And now these three great people were even going to seek justice for them. How could she not be grateful?
There was no doctor or shrine maiden in this village. If anyone fell ill, they had to go to the neighboring village.
That was why the woman had left with her child: she wanted the old shrine maiden in the neighboring village to treat his injury.
After all, not every village had a shrine maiden or a doctor.
If they hadn't met Kikyo in time, who knew whether the boy might have suffered some complication from blood loss by the time they reached the next village?
In this era, when ordinary people were injured... or fell ill...
If it wasn't too serious, they waited for it to heal on its own. If the injury or illness was severe, all they could do was wait to die.
"What a strong smell of blood..."
Before they had even reached the village, Yae Sakura caught a powerful scent of blood, along with a trace of... demonic aura.
"This is bad. Something's happened!"
The three of them hurried to the village with the woman and the boy.
Behind the rice paddies, countless houses were engulfed in flames.
Screams and the sounds of slaughter rang out without end...
"It's bandits..."
"Shrine Maiden, Fox Demon Lord, please, save our village!"
Seeing the bandits killing and setting fire in the distance, the woman hurriedly begged Kikyo and Yae Sakura for help.
[Commission triggered: Drive off the bandits] [Reward: 5 Crystals]
"Don't worry. Leave it to me!"
"Kikyo, stay here and look after the mother and son. I'll go stop those bandits." Kikyo's attitude toward humans was completely different from her attitude toward demons.
Even when faced with wicked bandits, Kikyo found it hard to bring herself to strike them. So Yae Sakura decided not to let her get involved.
"Still... if you don't have to, don't kill them. Just drive them away."
After a moment's hesitation, Kikyo agreed.
"How kind you are, Kikyo..." But kindness like that wouldn't end well in this chaotic era.
"Understood!"
Yae Sakura smiled at her, nodded, then hurried toward the village ahead.
"Big Sis, wait for me!"
Higokumaru glanced at Kikyo, stuck out her tongue at her, then hurried to catch up with Yae Sakura.
"Let's wait here for a while. They'll drive off those demons." Kikyo paid no mind to Higokumaru's antics and spoke to the mother and son beside her.
The childhood friend could never beat the girl who appeared out of nowhere.
She was nothing but a loser...
"Yes, Shrine Maiden."