東方プロジェクト二次小説・オリジナル小説サイト
Chapter 11:Undefined Fantastic Object

—31—


"Oh, it's Miss Merry and Miss Renko, welcome!"

"Oh, we were just talking about you. Tell us what happened on that ship."

"Everyone's talking about it! Some people say it was a treasure ship, but I've also heard it was some sort of invasion."

Comments like those ones were what greeted us as we came through the curtains hanging over the entryway of Suzunaan the next day. They had been spoken by Kosuzu and Akyuu, who had been conversing with each other as we came into the shop after the end of classes at the temple school. Renko raised both of her hands, smiling as she pleaded. "Okay, okay. Calm down, I'll tell you everything."

It seems that more than a few of the people who had seen us get off of the ship with Miss Byakuren had recognized us and as such word had quickly spread through the village. When we had shown up at the temple school this morning it had been nearly impossible to get any teaching done over the bombardment of questions coming from the excited students. I could only hope that somehow all of this enthusiasm for hearing Renko's stories might translate into more business for our detective agency.

Akyuu and Kosuzu listened attentively as Renko explained everything we'd spent the last winter doing to help out captain Murasa. It was already the third time today I'd heard her tell the story.

"So that ship isn't carrying a load of gold and treasure?" Kosuzu asked.

"That's right. It may not be a treasure ship, but the nun it’s carrying is a pretty rare prize herself."

"So that's why you came by my place the other day to ask about the events at the Myouren temple a thousand years ago, right?"

"Do you think releasing a magician who was sealed away for a thousand years will cause any problems?"

"Well, I've only known her for a day, but my impression is that she's not a bad person. At the very least, I don't think she's the sort of person who would attack the village. Even if I'm wrong though, Reimu will just reseal her if she does anything bad."

"Well putting that aside for the moment…" Kosuzu said, clapping her hands together and leaning excitedly toward Renko. "Did this Byakuren have any writings she might have made during her time in captivity? If there are any thousand-year old youma books she has lying around, I'd love to buy them for the store!"

Akyuu sighed exasperatedly. Kosuzu was clearly very dedicated to the operation of her imported bookstore, but I wondered if maybe she was a little too invested in her job.

"So where will Saint Byakuren go now that she's been released?"

"She said she was going to just fly around in her ship for a bit to get to know the land, then settle down and build a temple somewhere. There aren't any temples run by the villagers, are there?"

"There used to be a small temple just north of the village, where the cemetery is now, but the priest who ran it died without an heir and there was no one to take over the temple, so it was abandoned. If she's looking for a place to establish a temple, that might be a good spot. The village might even welcome her if she took care of the graveyard. Any place like that is allowed to become dilapidated ends up as a haven for youkai."

The lack of a Buddhist temple is something that had surprised me about the village ever since Renko and I had started living here. Nearly any rural village in Japan no matter how small usually had some sort of place to handle rites like weddings and funerals, but in Gensokyo the closest thing to that was the Hakurei Shrine. With how few people were willing to make the journey there it wasn't too common that Reimu would be called upon to perform any sort of ceremonial duties, though the occasions when she 𝑤𝑎𝑠 were the shrine's main source of income.

Aside from the graveyard in the north, there were several other graveyards within the walls of the village—run by influential families in each district—where one could at least lay a loved ones’ ashes to rest. Here in the village's center, the nearest one was managed by the village salt merchant.

"What would your opinion on that be as head of the Hieda family? Would you be alright with an unknown religion coming into the village and recruiting followers?"

"As far as unknown religions go we already have the Moriya Shrine. There’s no single common faith for everyone in the village, so people are free to believe what they'd like."

Perhaps in Gensokyo Byakuren's ideal of a temple where humans and youkai might worship side by side was not as far-fetched as it would have seemed a thousand years ago. The Hakurei Shrine was already widely believed to be visited by youkai, but that didn't stop villagers from relying on its shrine maiden or occasionally visiting it.

—

After we left Suzunaan, we returned to our office behind the temple school, where the window had been boarded up as a temporary measure. My plan for the rest of the day was to try to sort through and organize the pages of my manuscript that had been scattered and disorganized in all of the commotion yesterday. Once that was done, I immediately started jotting down notes, wanting to keep as many details as possible fresh in my head before they could fade away.

When I was writing things down I struggled with whether or not to even relate these events as a casefile of the Hifuu Detective Agency. After all, we had not served as investigators this time around so much as we had served as instigators. Having the detective be the mastermind behind the crimes would not only be a violation of the conventions of the genre, but be the sort of narrative trick that could only be executed in the final tale of a series. It also wouldn’t make much sense for us to find a mystery arising from our own actions.

With a faint sigh, I rested my chin on top of my folded hands on the table and looked over at my partner who was lying flat on her back on the tatami mat, fingers interlaced behind her head with her hat resting on her face. She wasn't moving at all, either deep in thought or completely asleep.

"So Renko, do you think I should start trying to write this incident up now?"

Renko turned her face slightly toward me, but the hat stayed in place, covering her eyes and resting on the bridge of her nose. "It's a little early to compile a record now, don't you think? We haven't solved the case yet."

"I thought you might say that."

Even I couldn't deny that there were many questions that still needed answers. The incident may have been resolved at this point, but as Renko had said, that's where the incident resolver's job ends and the detective's work begins.

"So what mystery will the great detective be solving this time?"

"Well, even knowing what question to ask is a bit difficult in this case. We're still missing so much information. And if I were to go and ask the people involved, there's no way I'd get a straight answer out of them."

"Do you mean that you wouldn't get an answer or you just wouldn't get an answer interesting enough to satisfy you?"

All of the megalomaniacal theories my partner had put forward about various incidents that we had become involved in to date tended to suppose that there was some great and mysterious secret concealed beneath the surface of the already strange events that defined such happenings. She was right that if she were to ask the parties responsible for an explanation, she wouldn't have gotten a reply but to think that was evidence of a conspiracy was perhaps a bit far-fetched.

"Well this time around the mystery is obvious: why did Byakuren have to be sealed away in Makai? There's no need for a summary or list of questions since in the end it all comes down to that one point."

"What about the question of why all of the fragments of the mast were made to look like UFOs?"

"That will be resolved when Reimu finds and exterminates the youkai responsible for doing that. Captain Murasa is already pretty sure who the culprit is and what their motivations were and we even know how they did it now. No, Byakuren is the interesting one here." Renko sat up, sliding her hat back onto her head as she did so, then turning and grinning at me. "To start with, we ought to try and verify the details of the stories we've heard so far, to see if any of the testimony we've received can be trusted. Murasa told us a good story, but there's several details that I’m not clear on."

"Like what?"

"Like the order in which the disciples escaped from the temple or the details of the Yama's ruling, or how exactly the Hakurei shrine maiden of a thousand years ago sealed Byakuren in Makai. Ideally, I'd like to go back to Makai as well, if I can."

"Makai? Why there?"

"There's some things I'd have liked to ask Lady Shinki without any of Byakuren's disciples around. For the moment though, let's concentrate on getting answers from the people we have access to. Starting with Sanae. I'm going to go make a call."

Saying that, Renko clapped her hands and stood up to walk to the door. The quickest way to contact Sanae of course was to pray to Lady Yasaka using the shrine behind our house and ask her to relay the message. It was hard to beat the convenience of a faith phone. Renko opened the door and stepped outside, but before she could even turn the corner to walk over to the branch shrine she stopped in her tracks and looked up.

"Oh, hello Sanae!" She called into the sky. "Merry and I were just talking about you."

"About me? What were you saying?"

"Just that we'd like to see you, so perfect timing. I was about to try to call you."

"Oh, well that's lucky. I was just coming here to see if you two were free to come with me."

"Come with you where?"

"Lady Suwako..." Sanae began to explain, but as she did so Moriya Suwako suddenly popped out from behind her, leaping to the side, ridiculous, glass-eyed hat and all.

"Yoo-hoo you two. Surprise. I came along with Sanae."

"Lady Moriya, how nice to see you again!"

"I heard from Sanae that the crew of that ship had succeeded in their mission, so I thought I'd go congratulate them. Would you like to come along?"

"Oh, of course!"

"While I'm here, Boss, it's kind of shady of you to have kept so many secrets from your own employee. I only found out from Lady Suwako yesterday that you were both involved in helping everyone on that ship escape from the Underworld. If I'd have known it was something you were all working on, I could have helped! I would have been on that magician's side from the beginning!"

"Um, sorry about that, Sanae. If we had gotten you involved though I think things would have gotten even more confusing then. What would Reimu have done if she thought you were the mastermind behind this incident instead of us? She's already suspicious of the Moriya Shrine due to Lady Yasaka’s involvement in the Vengeful Spirit Incident and you wouldn't want her to have an even worse impression of you, right? I'm the negotiator between your two shrines after all, so I don't want to do anything that would put you at odds." Renko pleaded, raising both hands.

Sanae puffed out her cheeks and glared at Renko.

"Come on Sanae. I’m sure they weren’t excluding you just to be mean. Sometimes things just get complicated," Suwako confirmed.

"I know, but still…"

"Besides, the one who was encouraging you to hunt youkai was Kanako, wasn’t it?" Suwako asked, grinning up at Sanae. "She’s the one who’s been keeping secrets here. Blame her."

"Eh?"

Sanae tilted her head in confusion. Renko and I were no better off and could only look at each other with surprise.


—32—


Thus, I bid the task of trying to construct a sensible narrative from my notes farewell for the day and grabbed a hold of Sanae's hand. Renko likewise took Suwako's hand and the four of us flew through the sky, in search of the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛. From the air, the ship wasn't too hard to spot and we caught up with it over the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. As we approached the ship, Ichirin and Unzan flew out to meet us.

"Oh, Miss Renko and Miss Merry and... you were that goddess who helped us escape. Thank you very much for your help." Ichirin said, drawing to a halt in the air and bowing deeply as we approached.

"Hello there," Suwako responded, casually. "I heard you were successful in your mission so I thought I'd stop by to see how you're doing."

"I see. Well, please come aboard, I'm sure Saint Byakuren will be happy to meet you. Why is that shrine maiden here though? If you've come to ask after the treasure, Nazrin hasn't gone to retrieve it yet."

"Oh, do you mean Sanae? She's my wind priestess."

"She's... your priestess!? Oh! Please forgive my rudeness then."

"No, no. I apologize for any trouble she may have caused. I neglected to tell her what was going on and she may have jumped to conclusions."

"Oh. Well she didn't exactly cause trouble... in the end she helped convince the other shrine maiden to let Saint Byakuren and the rest of us go free, so really I'm grateful. Please, come aboard."

"If you have any further complaints about the violence, I'll ask you to direct them to the other goddess at our shrine, I'm sure she'd be happy to receive them."

"Right... Anyway, follow me." Ichirin nodded, uncertainly, but then guided us all down to the deck of the ship.

As we landed on the deck, Byakuren was emerging from the lower decks to greet us. Ichirin rushed over to her and whispered something in her ear, then Byakuren approached Suwako with a broad smile on her face.

"It seems I have you to thank for making it possible for my disciples and this ship to return to me," she said, bowing deeply. "I am Hijiri Byakuren, a nun and head priest of the Myouren temple."

"I'm Moriya Suwako," the goddess replied, eschewing all formality. "One of the goddesses of the shrine on Youkai Mountain. I’m sorry to hear that my Sanae here has been causing you a little trouble."

"Ah, so that shrine maiden is one of your priestesses. I see. Well, everything ended up alright in the end, so there's no hard feelings." Byakuren replied with a fixed smile. The situation reminded me of whenever the parents of two children who had been harassing each other had to meet to find a resolution.

"So, you've been released from Makai. What do you think of Gensokyo so far?"

"Well, I've only been in this world for a day now, and I know we're separated from the larger world by a barrier here, but it seems to me that while there is still a large distance between humans and youkai, they have at least found a way to live alongside each other here without either side trying to destroy its opposite. I think that's wonderful, and a vital first step toward my goal of someday seeing all beings living in true harmony and equality. Equality begins with each side acknowledging the other’s personhood."

"Ah yes, I heard something about that from Sanae. So do you really see humans and youkai as equals?"

"Yes. My aim is to spread the teachings of the Buddha far and wide, educating people until we can all witness a world devoid of senseless persecution and discrimination."

"That's all well and good, but we gods can't survive if humans don't believe in us and even your disciples couldn't exist without human fear to sustain them. Doesn't that necessarily make for an unequal existence?"

"Although that is certainly the way things are, I don't believe that it's the way things have to be. Are there not some gods who are worshipped out of fear of their curses rather than thankfulness for their blessings? Are there not also some youkai such as zashiki-warashi who are not feared, but merely recognized or even worshiped by humans? Whether a being is respected and worshiped or feared and persecuted seems to come down to which is easier for humans, and no being should need to allow others to define them. A god could be respected without being worshipped and a youkai could be feared without being persecuted."

"Hmmm."

"Even if it's true that youkai require fear, it's discriminatory to assume that all youkai would harm humans the moment they are given the chance. As a goddess, have you never wished for a closer relationship with humans rather than being worshipped from a distance and viewed as untouchable? I don't expect that everyone will be able to come to a position of immediately understanding one another overnight. Even humans often misunderstand each other, after all. But I believe the time has come to move past beliefs like 'all youkai are dangerous simply because they're youkai' or 'all gods are worthy of praise.' The equality I hope for begins from understanding the good in all other beings."

"I see your reasoning, but isn't fearing all youkai a reasonable thing for humans to do? You are correct to say that humans shouldn’t fear youkai just because they are youkai, but humans aren’t strong enough to be able to risk treating every youkai they meet as if they might be friendly. The obvious course of action is to assume that it’s safer for them to fear youkai by default."

"Fearing a youkai in that manner is perfectly reasonable. When that fear turns from 'I should run away from this youkai' to 'we should band together and destroy this youkai,' however, that is when discrimination and small-mindedness blinds us to the truth. It is no sin for a human to defend themselves against a youkai that intends to harm them. But to persecute an innocent youkai without even listening to their side of the story is unquestionably discrimination."

"How would a human know which youkai are hostile and which are not though? You can’t expect people to just take a gamble with their lives that any youkai they meet is going to be someone reasonable they can talk to."

"Yes. That is why humans need an expert. Someone who can understand the needs of both humans and youkai, and treat them both as equals."

"Ah, and you intend to be that expert, I take it?"

"To be honest, I believe that is supposed to be the role of the Hakurei shrine maiden, but the maiden of the current era seems to see things differently, believing that their duty is only to exterminate youkai. Thus, I shall do my best to fill that role." She said, clasping her hands together in prayer before her.

Hearing Byakuren calmly and eloquently explain her reasoning, it seemed sensible to me. Her goal, after all, didn't really seem to be the removal of any distinction between humans and youkai, but rather an acknowledgment of their differences with a negotiated peace between the two peoples. Her aim seemed to be simply to end unjust persecution of either party by the other. It was the sort of compromise that would require skillful negotiation by someone who could understand the needs of both humans and youkai.

"Renko, Byakuren sounds like she's going to take over your job as Gensokyo's top negotiator."

"That wouldn't be so bad, Merry, that’s just a side gig after all. I’m a detective first and foremost."

Renko's answer was self-serving, but to me it seemed inarguable that Byakuren was better suited for the role. At the very least she had the strength to be able to defend herself if negotiations between two powerful and hostile parties broke down.

"Alright, I understand where you're getting at," Suwako said, tilting her head and cradling her chin in one hand as she regarded Byakuren with an appraising stare. "As the goddess of the Moriya Shrine we're technically business rivals, but if you're planning to set up a temple to normalize relationships between humans and youkai, then that could be beneficial to us, seeing as we live in youkai-controlled territory and could stand to have more human visitors. Hmm. Well, I can't speak for the Hakurei Shrine of course, but the Moriya Shrine will be happy to cooperate with you going forward." Having said that, Suwako smiled and held out her right hand.

"Thank you very much, Lady Moriya. I’m glad you’re able to see things from my point of view," Byakuren said, bending over slightly to take her hand. They shook, establishing the relationship between the organizations they represented.

"So what do you plan to do next?"

"I'm planning to build a temple. I went and had a look at the Hakurei Shrine this morning and it seems to me like it gets very few visitors. That suggests to me that in Gensokyo there is a greater need for someone who can negotiate between humans and youkai than it has for someone who exterminates youkai," Byakuren said, looking pointedly at Sanae, who groaned self-consciously.

"I think I may actually have found a good place for it already. Murasa, take us to that spot we saw earlier, please."

Byakuren said this last bit into the speaking tube and almost immediately the ship turned through the air and pointed its bow toward the village. We watched from the bow in silence for a bit as Murasa expertly maneuvered us up higher into the air, then down and around, to settle into place behind a cloudbank, just north of the village.

"It's over there. Just north of the village, off the side of the road that leads toward the mountain, there's a small cemetery. If we build a temple somewhere near there we'd be able to take over maintenance of the grounds and provide a service to the village."

"And it's outside the walls of the village. That should be fine, right?" Suwako looked down through a break in the clouds as Byakuren pointed, nodding appreciatively.

"I'll have to speak to a representative of the village first to be sure."

"I can arrange that," Renko said with a grin. "I happen to be well acquainted with the figurehead of the village."

Byakuren laughed. "Thank you very much, I would appreciate that. If that goes well then all that remains is to decide how to actually build such a place."

"Oh, leave that to me," Suwako said, puffing out her chest proudly. "I'm good at construction projects."

"Oh, are you offering? That would certainly be appreciated, but are you sure?"

"I thought you said we were going to be business rivals, Lady Suwako?" Sanae asked in confusion.

"It's fine. If we're going to get more visitors to our temple we're going to need better roads anyway. Having a temple nearby will also make the humans more comfortable with the idea of leaving the village too. Besides, having these folks owe us a favor could be useful going forward. Plus, we’re newcomers, so we need to make sure to make allies among anyone that shows up going forward, right?"

"Oh, I get it. Great plan, Lady Suwako!" Sanae whispered with a slightly evil grin.

"By the way, there was something I wanted to ask the Captain, if you don't mind." Renko interjected. "I assume I'll find her at the helm?"

"Oh, forgive me for keeping you all out here this long, I've forgotten my hospitality after being isolated for so many years. Please, come inside, we can sit and talk. Ichirin, please show them to my quarters."

"No need," Suwako said with a wave of her hand. "I've finished my business here."

"Oh please, don't go so soon! I have some lovely tea from Makai I can serve you, and I'd like to talk to you about the plan for the temple. There's a few specifics I'd like to attend to as well."

"Is that so? Fair enough then, I'll join you."

And so with that, all of us headed below decks.


—33—


We were led down the stairs and into a reception room that seemed to have been reshaped from what had once been the captain’s quarters. As the ship wasn’t moving at the moment, Murasa came down to join us shortly thereafter. Upon entering, Murasa recognized Suwako and bowed formally, offering her sincere thanks. Suwako waved dismissively, and as Murasa stood back up, her greeting for Renko was far more casual.

"Renko!" she cheered, opening her arms wide.

"Captain! Good to see you again," Renko replied, accepting the hug. It was good to see them both enjoying each other's company so thoroughly. "So where are Little Naz and Big Shou?" Renko asked as the captain patted her shoulder.

"Naz is out looking for missing pieces of the mast. Shou's down in the hold meditating on having lost the pagoda, I think. What brings you back here?"

"Well, actually, I wanted to ask you a few questions, Captain." Renko glanced quickly at Byakuren and Murasa seemed to grasp her meaning.

"Without Hijiri, you mean," she whispered, then turned toward Byakuren. "Please excuse us, Hijiri. I'll be at the helm if you need me."

"Oh, don't you want to have tea with us?"

"You're going to be discussing the details of the temple, I'm sure the three of us would just be a nuisance."

"Alright then. I'll have Ichirin bring you some of the tea."

And so I followed Renko and Murasa out of the room, glancing back once. Sanae met my eye, seeming unsure of who to follow, but elected to stay at Suwako's side in the end. Murasa led us back up the stairs and into the aftcastle.

"So what was it that you wanted to ask me?" Murasa asked, producing cushions for us all as she took a seat on the floor just in front of the helm.

Renko was about to answer but just then Ichirin came in with several cups of fragrant jasmine tea.

"Oh, Ichirin, could you stay for a moment too? There's some things I wanted to ask you as well," Renko said as she accepted the steaming mug.

"Oh? What's this all about, Renko?" she asked as she helped herself to a seat beside me.

"Nothing too serious, I just wanted to confirm a few details of the stories I heard from you. It's been a while now, and I want to make sure I've got the specifics straight in my head."

"You mean when we first met and told you about how Saint Byakuren was sealed away?" Murasa asked.

"Exactly. Specifically, I wanted to ask about the order of events. I'm a detail-obsessed kind of person, so I just wanted to make sure I understand."

Murasa and Ichirin exchanged surprised looks. "You want to know the order of events?"

"Well, I know that you and the captain were discovered to be youkai, and that the temple got surrounded by an angry mob. Then at some point the Yama and the Hakurei shrine maiden showed up, you two, Shou and Nazrin fled the scene and Byakuren was sealed away, but I want to understand the specifics of what happened when. What happened to this ship, for example and why did the pagoda not get sealed away with either you or Byakuren? For that matter, how did you know that you'd need it or the mast of this ship to release Byakuren from her imprisonment?"

"Oh, I see. I guess I didn't explain any of that," Murasa said, scratching at her head. "Okay, let's see. I guess I should start by explaining the siege. After it was discovered that Ichirin and I weren't human, rumors started to spread among the humans in the nearby communities and they formed a mob to surround the temple. Hijiri wanted to go out and talk to the crowd, but they were so riled up that Ichirin and I were worried they would tear her apart as soon as they saw her."

"At that point the crowd only knew that the two of us were youkai," Ichirin added. "So I thought if we were exterminated they would leave the temple in peace. Murasa and I suggested that we should go out and surrender ourselves to the mob, but Saint Byakuren refused to let us go."

She paused for a moment, looking down. Murasa picked up the story where she had left off.

"It was looking bad. We were surrounded on all sides and had nowhere to run. That was when the Hakurei shrine maiden showed up. She told us she had held the crowd back with the promise that she would come in and sort everything out, but she wanted to know why Hijiri had been disguising us as human. She didn't want to let the crowd burn down the temple without reason."

It almost sounded like the Hakurei shrine maiden of the past was a more reasonable and understanding person than Reimu.

"When Hijiri stayed silent, the shrine maiden told us if she wasn’t going to get an answer, then she would come back with the Yama, who would decide what should be done. When she did, the Yama and Hijiri went into the courtyard and talked for a while by themselves. She had me and Ichirin hiding in the temple's storehouse at the time, so we couldn't hear anything they said."

"When they came back, Saint Byakuren gave that houtou to Shou. She told us all that we should try to run away. Not to surrender, but also not to fight if we were caught. Just flee and try to avoid capture. She said 'you must not harm any humans. If you do, you will become the very thing they think you are.'"

"I had asked 'What about you, Hijiri?' but she told us 'I will stay here and accept the Yama's judgement.' I wanted to stay and be judged alongside her, but she forbade it, and said that we were innocent and only she had committed a sin."

"So the four of us split up and ran away in tears, leaving Saint Byakuren behind."

"As we were leaving, Hijiri told us 'I have placed my power into this houtou and this storehouse. Whatever happens to me, as long as my power remains within these objects, then you will have me with you as well.' Big Shou and Little Naz took the pagoda and I took this ship, which was being used as the temple's storehouse at the time. Hijiri turned it back into a ship for me before we left and we sailed away. I guess flying away on something this big made us a little too obvious though, because the Hakurei shrine maiden caught us afterwards."

"When the Hakurei shrine maiden caught us, she told us that Saint Byakuren had been sealed in Makai. Then she sealed us into the Underworld just like that, no questions asked."

Their story ended, the two of them both were silent for a moment, reflecting on all they had been through. Renko had been listening intently but now she was nodding to herself, muttering things like "So that means..."

"Did Byakuren or anyone else specifically tell you at any point that either the ship or the pagoda would be needed to free her?" Renko asked.

"It was something Big Shou suggested. She had guessed that Saint Byakuren's power must have been divided between the pagoda and the 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑦 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 and that if we returned both to her she'd be able to free herself. I had been holding on to the hope that she was right for a thousand years, so you can imagine my relief to find out that everything worked out as well as it has."

"I see..." Renko said, rubbing the brim of her hat between her fingers as she stared into space. "I wonder if it was part of the sentence handed down by the Yama that Byakuren's power should be divided between the ship and the pagoda. That's a question for later though. For now, there's something else I wanted to ask you, Captain. Until the point when Byakuren was released, this ship was steering itself, wasn't it? Has it always been able to do that?"

"Huh? Yeah, that's how it is. Ever since Byakuren gave the 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑛 to me all I had to do was tell her where I wanted to go."

"And once you did, the ship would navigate independently?"

"That’s right. However ever since we released Hijiri it’s been a little less convenient. It’s Hijiri’s power that’s keeping us afloat, but ever since then I’ve had to actually pay attention to the rudder and set the course by hand. I don’t mind though. It’s kind of nice to have something to do on the ship."

Renko's brow furrowed at that statement and she tilted her head contemplatively. "Is something wrong?" Murasa asked, noticing her expression.

"No, no, it's nothing important."

I had to admit that I was a bit confused too. Shouldn't it have been the other way around with the ship becoming easier to sail once Byakuren was released? For the whole time that Byakuren had been sealed away, I would have expected Murasa to have had to pilot the ship by hand. After all the ship’s ability to pilot itself was only a result of Byakuren’s power, wasn’t it? The fact that things seemed to be the other way around didn’t make sense. Perhaps after being released Byakuren had granted Murasa full ownership over the ship and a greater level of control, but even then…

"So then the reason why the pagoda didn’t get sealed away with you or Byakuren is because Shou managed to escape with it, right?"

"Yes, that should be correct. I don’t know how she would have managed to lose something so priceless during the thousand years we were apart though."

"I know, right?"

Murasa and Ichirin looked at each other and exchanged smirks. Renko smiled right along with them, but from the way one hand kept drifting upward to fiddle with the brim of her hat, I could tell that behind her smiling eyes another grandiose and megalomaniacal delusion was beginning to take shape.