Legend Management Bureau Chapter 464

[ … words ]

Jin Jianglang returned with an armful of firewood. He glanced at the two talking and casually asked, “What are you chatting about?”

“Ah, you scared me!” Shiranui Asuka exclaimed. “Brother, can you knock before you come in? There are girls whispering in here!”

“Knock…” Jin Jianglang shook his head helplessly. “Taking care of this Blind Maiden already had my hands full, and now with you here, A’xiang, it is even more difficult.”

Hearing this, Shiranui Asuka suddenly thought of something and asked, “By the way, Brother, how did you meet this blind sister? Weren’t you supposed to be taking your Assessment Trial?”

“That is right, I am in the middle of my trial right now.” Jin Jianglang nodded, stacking the firewood together. “This forest is the trial location I chose.”

“Here?!” Asuka paused in surprise. “Are you crazy, Brother? You only need to kill ten Yokai. Was it really necessary to come to a place like this?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Jin Jianglang replied. “A kill is a kill no matter where you are. There are just more Yokai here.”

“But you still shouldn’t… ah… ah… achoo!”

Jin Jianglang and the Blind Maiden looked at the girl in concern simultaneously, watching as she gave a small shiver and sniffled.

“Little Sister, hurry up and take your clothes back…” the Blind Maiden struggled to sit up as she spoke.

“No, no, absolutely not!” Asuka hurried over to stop her. “Lie back down, sister! I will warm right up once we get the fire going.”

The Blind Maiden frowned slightly, her pale eyes shifting.

“Little Sister, you don’t even know me. Why must you go to such lengths to take care of me?”

Shiranui Asuka blinked in surprise. “What kind of question is that? Everyone in the world starts out as strangers. Does that mean we never need anyone’s help? Besides, we have already spoken to each other, so we are acquainted now!”

The Blind Maiden offered a bitter smile and murmured, “What a silly girl…”

“Look who’s talking,” Jin Jianglang said as he finally got the fire going. He pulled Asuka closer to the flames and continued, “You aren’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed yourself, are you? Why do you insist on killing Yokai?”

“I already told you, Senior Onmyoji,” the Blind Maiden said slowly. “The parents who raised me were killed by a Yokai, so I must get revenge.”

“A Yokai being killed by a Yokai—isn’t that perfectly normal?” Jin Jianglang pointed out. “Never mind Yokai, humans slaughter each other every single day.”

The Blind Maiden frowned again. “But my parents weren’t Yokai! They were my parents, so how could they be Yokai?”

Jin Jianglang and Asuka exchanged a glance, completely bewildered.

Could a human couple really give birth to a Yokai?

If she was telling the truth, she was most likely adopted.

Jin Jianglang felt that something still did not add up, but he couldn’t put his finger on it at the moment.

“Even if you really want to kill Yokai, there is no need to come here,” Jin Jianglang added. “Do you have any idea whose territory this is? What will you do if you actually bump into him one day?”

“I have no idea where this is…” the Blind Maiden replied slowly. “A Yokai crushed my parents’ skulls, so I decided to crush the skulls of Yokai. I killed every single one I saw, and before I knew it, I ended up here. Though, the Yokai here are indeed very strong…”

“This is the lair of the Demon King, Shuten Doji,” Jin Jianglang explained. “This entire area is crawling with Yokai trying to either challenge him or join his ranks. Is someone of that caliber an opponent you can handle?”

“Shu… Shuten Doji?” The Blind Maiden froze. “Such a powerful Yokai is actually here?”

“That is exactly why I said you are pitifully dense! You can’t sense your own Demonic Energy, but can you really not sense the Demonic Energy of others either?”

“But I’m not a Yokai!” the Blind Maiden protested anxiously. “My eyes are just pale, so everyone assumes I am a Yokai. But I had parents! I am a human! Why do you all insist on calling me a Yokai?”

“Even so, you…”

Shiranui Asuka suddenly reached out and patted Jin Jianglang.

“Hmm?”

“Brother, stand up,” Shiranui Asuka ordered.

“Why?”

“Just stand up.”

Jin Jianglang was a little confused, but he slowly rose to his feet. “What is it, Little Xiang?”

“Hold on a second.” Asuka rummaged through her small satchel and suddenly pulled out a massive paper fan.

Before Jin Jianglang could even react, Asuka swung the paper fan and smacked it viciously against his backside.

“Ouch!”

Jin Jianglang jumped in fright, utterly bewildered by the sudden assault.

“Little Xiang, what are you doing?!”

“Brother!” Asuka fumed, her cheeks puffed out. “Didn’t I tell you that this sister is sick?! She is ill! Do you really have to chat with her right now?!”

“I…”

“I don’t care what you have to say! As long as my ‘Little Xiang Nursing Service’ is here today, I absolutely will not let you disturb my patient!”

What kind of nonsense was this?

Jin Jianglang rubbed his rear end, his face the picture of sheer awkwardness.

“Rest as much as you need, sister!” Asuka declared indignantly. “I would like to see who else dares to try and chat with you tonight!”

The Blind Maiden was amused by the young girl once again.

“Thank you, Little Sister…”

But before she could finish speaking, she broke into a violent fit of coughing. It sounded terrible.

Asuka hurriedly leaned in to check on the Blind Maiden’s condition.

She quickly realized that the woman was genuinely gravely ill, suffering from an incredibly severe chill.

Beneath the two robes draped over her, the woman wore nothing but an extremely tattered, coarse cloth shirt. Asuka couldn’t help but wonder to herself, ‘Did she really wear nothing but this before meeting my brother?’

She then glanced down at the Blind Maiden’s legs and realized she didn’t even have shoes.

Crouching down, Asuka touched the Blind Maiden’s feet.

Although her forehead was burning with fever, her slender feet were icy cold and covered in numerous cuts and bruises. It seemed she really had traversed the forest barefoot.

Some of the wounds on her feet were already festering and infected, which was likely the cause of her fever.

Taking a deep breath, Asuka lifted her own clothes to expose her small belly and gently pressed those freezing feet against her warm skin.

“L-Little Sister!” the Blind Maiden cried out in distress. “Please don’t… I haven’t worn shoes, my feet are filthy.”

Asuka didn’t let go. Instead, she turned back to Jin Jianglang. “Brother! This sister is in a really bad state. Hurry to an apothecary and buy some medicine! Get something for chills and something for frostbite!”

“An apothecary?” Jin Jianglang looked at the pitch-black sky outside the door. “But if I leave now… what about you?”

“Don’t worry! No one would dare touch me in this Maple Leaf Forest! I can summon those two over at any time.”

Jin Jianglang knew Little Xiang was right. No one would have the sheer audacity to attack her within the Maple Leaf Forest.

“I will go right now.”

“Wait!” Asuka suddenly called out. “Brother, what happened to your hand?”

“My hand?”

Jin Jianglang paused, slowly lifting his arm to find a gash on his palm, crusted with dried blood.

“You are hurt?” Asuka asked.

Jin Jianglang finally recalled that when he had scooped up the Blind Maiden, something had accidentally sliced his hand. However, in this forest, having one’s palm cut by some unknown object was an all too common sight.

“It is nothing serious, Little Xiang. I will be right back.”