Moon God's Protection

"Hahaha... these are all mine."

"Don't fight me for them, I found these first."

"Beauty, don't run away!"

The bandits held torches and various weapons—machetes and the like—frantically looting the village.

Anything they could carry was taken; anything they couldn't was set ablaze.

Without exception, every single bandit here bore a massive scar on their face.

"Stop, this is our last bit of food! How are we supposed to live if you take it all!"

Life for the common people in this era was already bitter, and this year's harvest had been poor.

The stored grain was barely enough to survive on, and now with bandits coming to loot, it was a death sentence. All the villagers—young men and the elderly alike—picked up tools, desperate to stop them.

"Who cares how you live? If you dare to block us... then die!"

These were not mere thieves; they were violent marauders. Anyone who dared to resist was simply cut down.

Of course, this applied to the men.

As for the women, as long as they weren't too ugly, they were simply bound.

In this era, fewer people actually died at the hands of demons than at the hands of their own kind.

War, the tyranny of rulers, and mountain bandits who claimed territory as their own.

Many powerful bandit groups would wipe out an entire village in a single raid. Those left with no other choice were then forced to join these very bandits and outlaws.

It was a cycle.

Demons treated humans as food, but they hunted rarely, taking only a few at a time.

Many demons didn't even eat humans.

But these evil bandits were different. They would ransack village after village, slaughtering the elderly, the men, and the children. They had no need for slaves; slaves required food to sustain.

If they found women who were decent-looking, they were bound like cargo, and their fate could well be imagined.

After a raid, very few, if any, survived in a village.

"Help... help me... someone, please save me..."

A young girl of twelve or thirteen, with a delicate, oval face and refined features, wore a simple kimono. Her long, straight black hair was meticulously groomed, and she was so beautiful that she didn't look like the daughter of a commoner.

Tears streamed down her face as she ran frantically toward the village exit.

Behind her, several armed bandits were in hot pursuit.

"Stop right there, don't run!"

"Keep running and see if I don't chop your legs off."

"Heh heh... beauty, you can't escape."

The pursuing bandits were ecstatic. They hadn't expected to find such a stunning beauty in a tiny village of only a few hundred people; she was like a "princess" from the nobility.

They had never touched a beauty like this before.

After they presented her to their boss to play with, they might even get to have a taste themselves.

"Ah..."

The village path was uneven. The girl accidentally stepped into a depression and tumbled to the ground.

Oh no...

As she fell, the girl's face turned deathly pale.

The fate of being caught by these vicious, cruel bandits was all too easy to imagine...

"Beauty, you can't run now, can you!"

"Don't worry... we'll take good care of you."

The brutal bandits surrounded her. Looking down at the girl on the ground, they reached out with filthy hands.

"Someone... please save me..."

Seeing their dirty hands, the girl couldn't help but close her eyes in panic.

"Bang..."

"Ah..."

A sound like a special firecracker rang out, followed immediately by a scream.

What happened?

The girl opened her eyes in confusion. She saw the first bandit who had reached for her clutching his arm and shrieking. Blood was gushing from his limb—he was wounded!

The other bandits looked toward a certain direction with expressions of fear. The girl turned her head to look as well.

A shrine maiden dressed in white and red... no! She wasn't a shrine maiden. She had a pair of long ears on her head; she was a demon...

A strange demon wearing shrine maiden robes.

This demon shrine maiden had two katanas at her waist and held two strange objects in her hands, which looked like the legendary firelocks or handguns.

The bandit who had tried to grab her must have been wounded by one of those.

"A shrine maiden... or a demon?"

"The weapon in her hand is a firelock. It only has one bullet. Don't be afraid, there are so many of us, she can only hurt one more person."

"Right, I recognize that thing. It's called a firelock. I once saw a noble use one. Although it looks a bit different, they're all the same; it can only fire once."

"Charge! Capture this demon and present her and those firelocks to the boss. The boss will definitely be pleased."

The bandits, initially startled by the gunshot, were no longer afraid after the "knowledgeable" ones spoke up.

Looking at the beautiful half-demon before them, desire overcame their reason. Such a beautiful woman—even if she was a demon—would be worth dying for just to have once.

She was many times more beautiful than the girl on the ground.

"A firelock? Only one bullet?"

Firelocks had appeared over two or three hundred years ago, even as far back as the Southern Song Dynasty in the Central Plains, but because they were impractical, they were never highly regarded since they could only fire once.

They were used quite extensively during the Ming Dynasty, but they were little more than toys or collectibles.

Watching the bandits approach, Yae Sakura toyed with the Moon God's Protection in her hands, aiming at the men in front of her.

Looking at the murderous aura and the resentment clinging to them, they must have harmed many innocent people...

It was only right to slaughter them, wasn't it?

Yae Sakura kept searching for excuses to comfort herself. Although she had cut down many demons, she had never killed a human before.

Even if they were vicious, bloodthirsty bandits...

"In this era... one must kill!"

After a moment of hesitation, Yae Sakura pulled the trigger...

"Bang!"

As the gunshot rang out, this time it didn't hit an arm or anything similar; it struck the chest... the heart.

"I... I killed someone..."

But why was there no sense of distress? Instead... there was a hint of an unstoppable excitement?

Although Yae Sakura was lost in thought, her hands did not stop. She fired continuously, and the charging bandits were struck by the Moon God and died in the blink of an eye.

"I... I'm not like this..."

This excitement... this isn't me...

Yae Sakura suddenly collapsed, sitting weakly on the ground. The Moon God fell from her hands, and she clutched her head with both hands.