Were all the local monsters this brazen?
Kaede's Village.
It was a small village in the mountains and fields of Musashi Province. Had it not produced Kikyo, a miko renowned far and wide, probably no one would have paid attention to this impoverished little place.
But it was also thanks to the miko Kikyo that this village had managed to survive tenaciously through the brutal Warring States period.
It was noon, a break from farm work, and the villagers resting in the fields spotted Kikyo returning and exclaimed in delight:
"Ah, Lady Kikyo!"
"Lady Kikyo, have you finished your morning duties?"
"Lady Kikyo, my back has been hurting terribly all day. Is my back trouble acting up again?"
"Lady Kikyo..."
Kikyo calmly exchanged greetings with the villagers, even helping with a few minor problems that herbs could resolve, before following the dirt road back to her home at the highest point of the village.
Pushing open the creaking wooden door, Kikyo immediately saw her little sister, Kaede, sitting barefoot beside the "hearth."
This hearth was a square area deliberately dug into the center of a room in ordinary Japanese homes, lined with ash, then filled with firewood and charcoal for cooking and warmth.
Thus, it was also called a floor stove.
At that moment, Kaede lay beside the hearth and its suspended pot, watching the firewood and occasionally stirring the medicinal herbs in the pot.
Seeing her sister, Kikyo's lips curved slightly upward.
"I'm home, Kaede."
"Sister! You're back!"
Kaede, her face smudged with ash, immediately scrambled up from the floor and trotted over to Kikyo, speaking as though seeking praise.
"Look, I finally learned how to brew wound medicine today."
"Let me see." Kikyo patted Kaede's back, walked over to the hearth, and set down the wolf pelt. Then