The Fujiwara Ancestor

Mokou's idea made a lot of sense. On one hand, she could confirm if the Fujiwara in Heian-kyo were descendants of her family, and on the other, she could see if they would acknowledge her as their ancestor, killing two birds with one stone.

Additionally, Miketsu had helped Mokou break free from the control of the broken blade, and Mokou considered herself to owe Miketsu a great favor. If someone could help her repay this debt, it would be for the best.

Miketsu tucked away the wooden plaque Mokou had given her. She prepared to set off for Heian-kyo immediately after everything was over. When Miketsu assumed Mokou would return with her, the girl claimed she wouldn't be going to Heian-kyo for the time being.

"What? You want to go to Fujiwara-kyo first?" Miketsu asked, somewhat surprised, looking at Mokou.

"Yeah, I want to see if my old house is still there, and if anyone is still living in it... Besides, I want to try and adapt to human life on my own first before planning to go to Heian-kyo." Mokou spoke seriously to Miketsu. Although Miketsu had told her that all the nobles should have moved to Heian-kyo, she still wanted to try her luck and see if anyone remained.

"That might take some time, and I don't know how long. However, once I reach Heian-kyo, I'll look for you first. You can tell me how your investigation went, and then I'll decide whether or not to go and acknowledge the Fujiwara there."

Faced with Mokou's decision, Miketsu didn't say much more. Instead, she simply told her how to find her in Heian-kyo before parting ways. Miketsu returned to Heian-kyo, while Mokou set off for the former capital, Fujiwara-kyo, to visit the home she had lived in over two hundred years ago.

Like Nagaoka-kyo, Fujiwara-kyo was also an old capital of the Imperial Court. There was also Heijo-kyo. In the span of just over two hundred years, the court had moved through three old capitals—Fujiwara-kyo, Heijo-kyo, and Nagaoka-kyo—before finally stabilizing after moving to Heian-kyo. They were practically capital-moving fanatics.

After bidding farewell to Mokou, Miketsu rode Ami and leisurely returned to Heian-kyo. The journey of a day and a half passed quickly, with no incidents occurring during that time.

After resting well at the shrine and completing her preparations, Miketsu went to the Onmyoryo in Heian-kyo one morning. This time, she went directly to find Fujiwara no Saneyori.

......

Inside the familiar elegant room, Miketsu sipped the tea brought by the attendant with an apologetic air. At this moment, sitting before her was a frowning Fujiwara no Saneyori.

"You're saying that while on a mission, you encountered a mystic living in seclusion in the deep mountains? Her spells accidentally went out of control, and you helped her suppress them, after which she claimed her surname was Fujiwara?" Fujiwara no Saneyori spoke with a tone of confusion.

Taking a sip of tea, Miketsu nodded.

"That recluse said she has been practicing for over a hundred years and has even mastered the method of longevity, and her name is Fujiwara no Mokou?"

Setting down the teacup, Miketsu nodded again.

"She said she had been in seclusion for too long and her cultivation had hit a bottleneck, so she wanted to enter the world to seek an opportunity for a breakthrough. Therefore, she will visit the main family in Heian-kyo in the future, and first asked you to come and notify us?"

Eating two beans from the plate, Miketsu nodded once more.

Since the matter of the Hourai Elixir was inconvenient to disclose, Miketsu simply refabricated Mokou's experiences so that she would face less trouble when she returned in the future.

"Heh... this... this truly is a thought-provoking encounter..." Hearing Miketsu's words, Fujiwara no Saneyori twitched the corner of his mouth and spoke with a dry laugh.

"I found it quite miraculous as well."

Miketsu spoke calmly. After a moment of silence between the two, Fujiwara no Saneyori spoke again.

"She said her surname is Fujiwara, but did she say which branch she belongs to? Or rather... did she present any token of proof?" Fujiwara no Saneyori spoke tentatively. In his heart, he didn't quite believe Miketsu's words; specifically, he thought Miketsu had met a fraud who wanted to latch onto the Fujiwara's prestige. In Saneyori's own memory, looking back several generations in his family tree, there was no one named Mokou.

The person might indeed be named Fujiwara, but perhaps they were from a fallen side branch, merely trying to use this method to climb the social ladder with his side of the family.

Hearing Fujiwara no Saneyori's words, Miketsu silently took out the wooden plaque from her sleeve and handed it to Saneyori via the attendant. Saneyori took the plaque nonchalantly and flipped it over casually. When he saw the characters carved on it, his whole body visibly jolted, and he froze in place in a single posture, motionless for a long time.

His gaze was intensely focused on the characters 'Fuhito' carved on the wooden plaque.

Seeing Fujiwara no Saneyori like this, a trace of a smile appeared at the corner of Miketsu's mouth, and she couldn't help but shrug slightly. Before coming here, she had specifically looked up who this so-called Fuhito was.

The surname Fujiwara began when the Tenno bestowed it upon the dying meritorious official, Nakatomi no Kamatari. Fujiwara no Fuhito was the only one among Nakatomi no Kamatari's sons to inherit the Fujiwara surname, and no one else received such a bestowal after that.

In short, Fujiwara no Fuhito was the substantive ancestor of the Fujiwara, the first true Fujiwara. Every branch of the Fujiwara originated from him. He was the direct ancestor of all Fujiwara in the world, which naturally included the Kanpaku family to which Fujiwara no Saneyori belonged, the most powerful of them all.

Miketsu had been quite surprised when she first looked up information on Fuhito. She hadn't expected Mokou's father to be such a formidable figure. Once she knew this, Miketsu was no longer worried about whether Mokou's Fujiwara and the Fujiwara of Heian-kyo were one and the same.

Then, recovering from his shock, Fujiwara no Saneyori began to carefully examine the wooden plaque. He constantly touched every part of it with his hands, spiritual power fluctuations appearing at his fingertips. He seemed to be looking for any flaws but could never find any. Finally, after giving up, he stared blankly at the plaque for a long while.

"This... she gave this to you?" Turning his head mechanically, Fujiwara no Saneyori looked at Miketsu and spoke in disbelief.

"Yes, she said it was a personal item belonging to her father. I don't know if it's real or fake, but as experts in crafting spiritual tools, you should have a way to distinguish it." Miketsu said this, but in her heart, she knew the other party had already performed a round of verification and clearly found no issues.

"Father... that means..." After hearing Miketsu's words, Fujiwara no Saneyori began to silently count something. When he reached the end, he himself could hardly believe the number he had counted.

Miketsu understood what Fujiwara no Saneyori was counting. Needless to say, he was certainly counting the generations. Mokou was the daughter of the Fujiwara ancestor Fuhito. If one were to calculate her seniority relative to Fujiwara no Saneyori, her rank would be terrifyingly high. Even Saneyori's father, the current Kanpaku Fujiwara no Tadahira, would be no exception.

In other words, by going out this time, she had somehow found an ancestor for the Fujiwara clan, one of the three great families of Heian-kyo that controlled the government and wielded immense power.

"Ahem... well... Hao, did that ancestor named Mokou leave any other instructions?" After finally managing to soften the expression on his face, Fujiwara no Saneyori spoke with a smile, and Miketsu had been waiting for this sentence for a long time.

"Yes, she said that since I helped her suppress her out-of-control spells, she owes me a favor. She asked you to help her repay it."