Chapter 287: No Solution Was Ever Foolproof

In only a day’s time, Mushiya Sakagami and Yuuta Sakagami were killed, one after another. These incidents caused Chief Sakagami to start panicking. Just like the other villagers, he believed that it was the start of the Majin’s revenge.

A year ago, they destroyed the Majin’s seal but no one saw the Majin. They became furious as they thought that their ancestors had deceived them about the Majin’s existence. After calming down, they realized that the Majin may have instantly fled after the seal was destroyed.

After all, they were truly afflicted by the curse. There was no one like them that feared daylight, consumed blood as their daily food, and could only be active at night.

Even a case of genetic mutation would not affect an entire village.

The ceremony to dispel the curse was quickly approaching, but it would only be held tomorrow. Hence, it was of vital importance for Tarou Sakagami to prevent anyone from dying in those two days.

To dispel the curse, every villager needed to dedicate their blood to activate the tactical formation. The more the blood that was given, the better the effect would be. Therefore, the life of every villager in Sakagami Village was extremely precious.

Tarou Sakagami had wanted Kimura Kazuki and his people out of the village because he did not wish to reveal the curse of Sakagami Village to them, afraid that they would divulge the secret to the world. However, when he witnessed Kimura Kazuki’s split-second vanishing act at Mount Unto just now, he realized that those people were not ordinary and were truly capable.

Now that the Majin had started its revenge, the villagers of Sakagami Village were completely helpless. People were suddenly murdered as the date of the ceremony was approaching. Evidently, the Majin had set out to stop them and they could do nothing to halt the Majin’s plan.

Tarou Sakagami promptly went into the house to console the others but seeing the human skin on the floor made him more wary of the looming catastrophe.

Later, Tarou Sakagami brought Kimura Kazuki and the others to his house.

Even though Tarou Sakagami was the chief of Sakagami Village, his home was not ostentatiously luxurious, looking just like the other houses. As the people from Sakagami Village were cursed, they could not have great achievements in large cities even if they had graduated from renowned universities. The villagers were frail and feeble during the day, and would easily faint when exposed to sunlight.

Since they could not work properly during the day, it was impossible for them to get hired. Moreover, the villagers of Sakagami Village did not excel academically. The school was held during the day when they would be in dreadful condition and could not learn anything.

Consequently, Sakagami Village could not prosper even if the people yearned for it, and was perpetually stranded in a state of poverty.

Tarou Sakagami gathered everyone to sit down and did not dawdle as time was running out. He went straight to the point and asked, “What do you want to know about?”

Kimura Kazuki glanced at Sei Shigeru and then said, “We want to know everything about the curse.”

Tarou Sakagami nodded when he heard it. He mentally prepared himself, as hiding it was not an option anymore. After all, the villagers had accidentally revealed some information when they were ardently tittle-tattling among themselves. He knew everyone had no intention of hiding it. They had been afflicted by the curse for an eternity, and finally, there were some outsiders trying to investigate the situation now. Thus, they could not bother whether Kimura Kazuki and his group had good or evil intentions. For them, this was a little ray of hope in their bleak darkness.

Most of the villagers wanted to ask Kimura Kazuki’s people for help. After all, how much worse could the condition be? Even if they could not remove the curse, there would not be any difference between dying and living.

However, the villagers were pressured by Tarou Sakagami and Granny Sakagami, so they could not directly contact Kimura Kazuki and the others. After encountering two deaths in just a day, it had evidently caused ill repercussions on the villagers’ emotions.

Tarou Sakagami heaved a sigh as he considered it. After being silent for a moment, he began to speak slowly. “The origin of the curse on Sakagami Village can be traced back to our late forefather, Sakanoue no Tamuramaro.”

After Tarou Sakagami’s explanation, Kimura Kazuki and the others began to understand about Sakagami Village’s curse.

When Sakanoue no Tamuramaro was alive, the Hokkaido everyone knew today was called Ezo. At that time, armed rebellions against the government frequently occurred in Ezo.

The incumbent Emperor Kanmu tried to quash the rebels in Ezo, but the initial battles were all met with defeat. When Ōtomo no Otomaro became the Shōgun during the Enryaku era, the situation began to improve. Ōtomo no Otomaro was not very capable by himself, but his general Sakanoue no Tamuramaro fought bravely in combat and conquered Ezo, bringing peace to the entire Ōu region.

However, no one knew about the unusual encounter that happened during Sakanoue no Tamuramaro’s 20-year reign as the Shōgun in the Enryaku era. When he battled against the forces in Ezo for the second time, he met an unkillable opponent with divine powers.

“Unkillable?” Sei Shigeru could not help but ask, “Are the records real?”

Tarou Sakagami eyed Sei Shigeru with dissatisfaction when he heard it, saying, “Of course it’s real, this is recorded in the commonplace book of our ancestors. It was handwritten by them and had been perfectly preserved until today.”

“Maybe the Majin was locked up because it was invincible.” Kimura Kazuki casually added, “Of course, it could also be that Sakanoue no Tamuramaro could not find a way to destroy the Majin, or he was not powerful enough.”

Tarou Sakagami grunted when he saw Sei Shigeru’s apologetic smile. After listening to Kimura Kazuki’s guesswork, he involuntarily nodded and replied, “Our villagers had the same assumption as well. This unkillable opponent was named Majin by our ancestors and there are very few descriptions about it in the records. Based on the writings, the Majin appeared in a misty cloud-like form, and no attack can harm it at all. At that time, our great ancestors invited a powerful Onmyoji to fight against it. However, both parties could not overpower one another. Thus, our ancestors put themselves at great risk and sealed up the Majin.”

Put themselves at great risk…

“So… Ever since then, all the inhabitants of Sakagami Village were cursed?”

“Exactly!” Tarou Sakagami bemoaned with sorrow. “However, the incident about how our ancestors took the risk was not recorded in the commonplace book. Otherwise, we would be able to gain an understanding of the situation at that moment.”

Harunaka who had been completely quiet for the whole time suddenly said, “How did you know about the way to dispel the curse? During my journey here, I heard many villagers discussing the curse dispelling ceremony that will be held tomorrow.”

Tarou Sakagami suddenly laughed after hearing her question. His wrinkled face had a self-deprecating expression as he uttered, “The way of dispelling the curse? There is no such method with guaranteed results! Besides our current generation, all the previous village chiefs had held ceremonies to remove the curse but morbidly failed. Even the outcome of tomorrow’s ceremony is still up in the air.”

However, he needed to step forward as the chief of the village and confidently tell the others that it would surely succeed. Otherwise, how would the villagers be united as one? Many of the villagers had become numb to the suffering. If he did not boost their confidence, then most of them would probably not participate in it. After all, there were too many failed attempts in the previous generations.

“The ceremony to lift the curse… How did you find out about it?”

The ceremony was indeed a method, but it was still not something that could be conjured out of thin air.

“It was found in Unto Shrine.”