Chapter 58: Hiruko Hiiragi

Upon entering Haze Castle, the entourage of the Kurohimeshama family was greeted with a grand welcoming ceremony. The second young lady, Katsura, along with influential figures of the clan and exorcists, were escorted into the main keep to attend the banquet.

Meanwhile, the members of the Blade-Slaying Court, the Hollow Eye Court, the Healing Court, and the Shinobi Faction were assigned accommodations at the inns in the castle town.

In the dead of night, even the usually bustling castle town grew remarkably quiet.

"The banquet should be winding down about now!"

Hyakusuke left the inn, walked to the stables, and began tossing fresh fodder to the horses, clearing out the manure, and checking their physical condition.

Such tasks should normally be left to Tomosaka and the lower-tier ninja.

However, considering that the lower-tier ninja had spent the entire day rushing through the journey, he hadn't the heart to wake the others.

"Still, Dewa Province really is a wealthy region..."

It must be because the Heavenly Cherry Tree was deeply rooted in the ley lines, absorbing the power of the netherworld's evil spirit nest while simultaneously radiating this purified energy into the spiritual veins throughout Dewa. This allowed a frontier previously regarded as a "barren wasteland" to gradually develop through reclamation and cultivation. Judging from the folk customs observed along the way, the living conditions of the common people within Dewa were vastly superior to those in Mutsu.

After all, the role of "spiritual veins" in this world provided a massive bonus to the agricultural system. Crops yielded bumper harvests year after year, and floods or droughts were exceedingly rare. In this fertile territory, even tenant farmers lived relatively well, making it practically a paradise.

Naturally, this was also due to the diligence of the successive administrators of the Dewa region. Su芳, the lord of Haze Castle, had been a wise and brilliant ruler even in his youth.

Under the guidance of the elders, leveraging the region's mineral resources of "Scarlet-Crimson Metal," and actively expanding commerce with regions like Kyoto and Nara, long-term management had transformed the territory under Haze Castle's jurisdiction into the most famous commercial metropolis in the Northern Lands.

Compared to the wealth of Haze Castle, even the territory of the Kurohimeshama family—boasting of being a great clan in Mutsu—could only be described as a desolate countryside.

'However, if the "Collapse of the Divine Cherry" occurs, all of this will be reduced to ruins.'

Hyakusuke raised his head to gaze at the moon.

The moon was currently in its waning phase, slender and sharp.

The only way to resolve this matter was to find a way to eliminate the "root cause" responsible for all of this.

Yet, relying solely on his current strength made accomplishing this impossible.

"I can only try to change the plotline step by step and see if I can steer it back on track... The plot of this first chapter also has multiple developmental directions; I just need to avoid the worst possible route."

In the game, the worst-case scenario was that the Heavenly Cherry Tree would be contaminated and collapse, causing the evil spirit nest in the Nether Nation to "erupt," and turning all the mortals within Haze Castle into contaminated "evil spirits."

Furthermore, the pollution afflicting the Divine Cherry tree would spread along multiple spiritual veins throughout the entire Dewa region.

"As for the other endings, although they are also tragic, they generally won't have too drastic an impact on the future situation..."

Mid-sentence, a flash of inspiration struck his mind.

"Wait, why don't I ask the Snow Yaksha Princess for help? She is, after all, a deity of benevolent alignment. If she learns of this, I should be able to get some assistance, right?"

With this thought, Hyakusuke decided to enter a dream once more and implore the Lake Lord, a benevolent deity, for her aid.

...

"No."

The Lake Lord directly cut him off.

"Though your reasons are entirely valid, I have my own stance. Dewa is not within my jurisdiction; I cannot directly intervene in the situation over there."

"But what if something happens to that Heavenly Cherry Tree, and countless people die?"

"That would indeed be regrettable, but I am powerless to help."

"Surely you cannot be such a heartless deity? Won't you show mercy and help us mortals?"

Hearing Hyakusuke's words, the Snow Yaksha Princess sighed.

"Listen to me, young man... We deities are fundamentally different from you. That difference is the gap between mortals and gods. Benevolent deities understand this clearly and will always maintain their distance from you."

The Lake Lord's green eyes flickered with the color of an abyss.

"If we draw too close, we fear that the light and warmth of our true nature will be too blinding and melt you; if we stay too far away, we cannot look after you."

Though her voice carried genuine sorrow, her expression remained unchanged.

"Mortals have grown arrogant from receiving too many of our gifts, and instances of courting their own destruction have occurred far too often... Benevolent deities share a mutual covenant and cannot casually interfere in this world with our true forms."

...

"Even if the world perishes?"

"The concept of destruction exists only among humans such as you."

The Snow Yaksha Princess explained indifferently: "We possess no concept of life and death. If this world is destroyed, when it is born anew on another timeline, deities like us will simply revive once more."

She elaborated further.

"Of course, aside from those quantum observers in the Ruins of Kunlun or the Lord of the Cross who possesses multi-dimensional uniqueness, fragile divine existences like us do not yet possess the ability to perceive other timelines... But within a single timeline, the gods merely fall silent, they do not perish."

The Snow Yaksha Princess looked at Hyakusuke.

"The demise of humanity is strictly a human affair. We are responsible only for fulfilling our own duties. Throughout history, there have been deities who wished to help you or punish you, but the results always proved that their actions were meaningless..."

"Is that so?"

Hyakusuke sighed inwardly.

He finally understood why the lore book stated that the Eight Million Gods in the worldview of *The Clear Moon of Hallowed Night* functioned more like administrative bureaucrats in a modern system—responsible solely for operational work, without proactively interfering in human history.

'That bizarre little tale told by the old man Matsupila, that fable about the golden and silver axes... could that have been hinting at the stance of the Snow Yaksha Princess?'

"Conversely, that little Mahafala has gone entirely too far."

The Snow Yaksha Princess shook her head.

"As long as people make requests, it never refuses, granting every single one. How can such a thing be? A deity must maintain its own stance. Blindly pampering mortals will only make them lax and devoid of the drive to grow... If it truly meets with misfortune, it is merely the karmic retribution for its own actions."

"Is that so?"

Hearing this, Hyakusuke realized how difficult it would be to persuade this Lake Lord.

"Heh, heh, heh... You needn't wear such a disappointed expression, young man."

The Lake Lord covered her mouth with her sleeve and let out a refined, melodic laugh.

"I merely said I would not personally step forward to intervene, not that I cannot offer *you* personal assistance... While I cannot manifest in person or officially step in, I can pull a few strings behind the scenes to help you solve your predicament."

"Really?"

Hyakusuke quickly pressed on: "How will you help me?"

"Since you are worried about the Heavenly Cherry Tree, you can simply tell it the situation directly."

The Snow Yaksha Princess offered a suggestion.

"Tell it directly?"

Hyakusuke was puzzled: "That 'Cherry God,' Mahafala, seems capable of communicating only with its shrine maiden, right? It's hardly easy for an ordinary person to secure an audience with it, is it?"

"Indeed."

The Snow Yaksha Princess lit her pipe and took a deep drag.

A moment later, exhaling a plume of smoke, she spoke again: "As a deity, Mahafala is still far too young. Its time of birth is brief, and it has yet to attain 'true divinity.' It is a weaker existence compared to deities like us."

"However, its parentage should trace back to the Great Deity of Trees and Plants, 'Kukunochi,' whose status is even higher than mine, and its potential is astonishing... It's just that, as a deity of vegetation, the process of giving birth to spiritual wisdom is exceedingly slow, requiring far more immense epochs of time than ordinary deities."

"Fortunately, it received much assistance during its growth, yet its soul and mind remain frequently dormant, leaving only a fragment of its consciousness floating within the dream realm. By merging with the dreams of the subjects under its rule, it gained the power to maintain a conscious will within the dreamscape."

At this, she smiled.

"I can help connect you into its dreamscape. As for how to make contact with it, that will be your task..."

...

"Achoo!"

Having been transported into the dream of the so-called Heavenly Cherry Tree, Mahafala, Hyakusuke sneezed repeatedly.

"What kind of ghost place is this?"

A sea of flowers greeted his eyes.

Above and below, five-colored flowers spun round and round, their petals caught in the wind, dancing through the air.

——This was a world composed entirely of flowers and green-leafed plants.

"Achoo..."

He sneezed yet again.

Fine, this really was a most unfriendly dreamscape for a hay fever sufferer.

'Head toward the east; I have a feeling something will be found over there...'

The Snow Yaksha Princess's voice echoed from a tiny glowing speck beside him.

"Why have you turned into this shape?"

He was somewhat astonished.

'This is another deity's domain, after all. Don't overthink it, start running now, or you'll be in trouble...'

Trouble?!

What kind of trouble could there possibly be in a dream?

The very instant he thought this, countless petals behind him let out a resounding roar, surging upward. From beneath the sea of flowers, a gigantic hand formed entirely of countless tangled vines lunged forward.

Not good!

Hyakusuke sprinted forward, barely dodging the assault of the massive green hand.

'This is Mahafala's dreamscape, you see~~ To protect the dream, defensive mechanisms will naturally manifest within it. Be careful not to get hit... or you'll be kicked right out of this dream!'

——You really should have mentioned that sooner!!

He broke into an all-out sprint.

...

Without knowing how far he had run into some bizarre area, the previous sea of flowers had vanished. Instead, the surroundings were blooming with pale green plants and red flowers, creating a dreamlike atmosphere.

"The Lake Lord is gone too."

Seeming to have been caught up in the prior chaos, the tiny glowing speck that embodied the Lake Lord had vanished without a trace.

Hyakusuke had no idea which direction he ought to move in, so he simply pressed forward. A moment later, the instant a gust of breeze brushed across his cheek, he froze entirely—

"This..."

In the center of the clear night sky hung a massive, glowing moon. A faint lunar radiance cascaded down onto the red-flowering fields below, making the crimson blossoms appear even more vibrant.

Beneath the expansive, moonlit sea of flowers, a maiden was sleeping.

Her hands were clasped tightly together, kneeling upon the ground as though in prayer.

Her ethereal, translucent silhouette shone brighter than the moonlight itself.

Catching sight of this scene, Hyakusuke could not help but gasp sharply, the tip of the longspear in his grasp pointing straight at the maiden.

"Hiiragi... Hiruko!!!"

Cold sweat broke out all over his body, his face freezing as though turned to ice.

This was the final boss of the first chapter's main plotline, the avatar of the Heavenly Cherry Tree Mahafala, the contemporary divine shrine maiden capable of summoning the "Cherry God" to descend and manifest its divinity.

She was the living deity who sustained the Heavenly Cherry Tree's protective system over Dewa Province.

She was also the monster who, at the conclusion of this chapter, would be possessed by the vampire under the command of the "First Ancestor of Blood," the First Emperor, and awaken as a True Ancestor-class vampire—the final boss who, amidst the collapse of the Divine Cherry, had nearly single-handedly destroyed Dewa and the entire nation, leaving countless players with the bitter taste of crushing defeat!!