The Arrival

After leaving the Sacred Scroll of Manifest Wisdom at the Fujiwara estate to assist in their continued defense against the curse, Miketsu stepped out of the manor and walked toward the exit amidst a chorus of wailing.

Watching the Fujiwara descendants who had been struck dead on the spot outside the estate, their bodies in states of gruesome decay, Miketsu’s expression turned solemn. To mortals, Prince Nagaya’s curse, reinforced by an unknown power, was far too potent. Even a slight brush with it meant certain death, provided one carried the blood of the Fujiwara.

Just as Miketsu was preparing to leave the Fujiwara estate and return to Inari Mountain, a particular detail caught her eye. On the hunting robes of the fallen onmyoji outside the gates, the family crests were not the Fujiwara’s wisteria pattern, but various other designs.

These onmyoji had been killed by the curse because they carried Fujiwara blood, but why were these men not wearing the Fujimaru Kamon?

Driven by this question, Miketsu spoke to a nearby samurai who was clearing away the corpses. The man bowed respectfully and answered her query: those who died were indeed Fujiwaras, but they did not belong to the primary lineage of the Kanpaku, Fujiwara no Tadahira. They were from the other branches of the clan.

Hearing the samurai's answer, Miketsu recalled Seimei mentioning that other branches of the Fujiwara clan in Heian-kyo had sent men to support the most powerful Kanpaku house. These must have been those reinforcements.

Miketsu suddenly realized that while Fujiwara no Saneyori's house—the Kanpaku lineage—was the most prosperous, it was not the only one. Mokou’s father, Fuhito, had four sons, who traditionally established four main lineages that eventually splintered into even more houses. If the Kanpaku house was suffering this severely, what about the others? They didn't have the deep coffers and resources of the main house to withstand such a powerful curse from Prince Nagaya.

Regarding this issue, Miketsu sought out the samurai who had accompanied these fallen branch members. Their answers were beyond her expectations: the other Fujiwara houses were almost entirely unscathed. It seemed only the Kanpaku branch was being tormented by this disaster.

Miketsu noted this anomaly in her mind and quickly returned to Inari Mountain. Entering the small villa within the shrine’s divine realm, she didn't even bother to change her clothes. She immediately summoned Tsuruha, had her take human form to set up a divination space, and laid out the map of Heian-kyo with its established coordinates. She prepared to use the trial-and-error method to pinpoint Prince Nagaya’s location, just as she had done when searching for Yura and Minamoto no Mitsunaka.

However, this divination yielded an unexpected result. After repeated attempts, Miketsu discovered a significant problem.

Though she successfully determined a direction through her spells and followed that path, she found that Prince Nagaya’s location was unexpectedly distant—far beyond the boundaries of her current map.

Looking at the result, Miketsu felt a pang of frustration. While she had used Heian-kyo as the origin point to fix the bearing, the distance was so great that the corresponding angle of the search area widened into a massive territory. It was still like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Miketsu didn't have maps for those outlying regions, nor did she have enough local names to establish new coordinates for more precise tracking. Specifically, the problem was that Prince Nagaya was too far away; the maps she had previously asked the foxes to draw were no longer sufficient.

There was certainly no time to have the foxes expand the map now. Furthermore, after multiple uses, Miketsu had realized that hand-drawn maps based purely on memory suffered from distortion issues. They worked for small areas, but the errors would become problematic over larger distances.

Faced with this situation, Miketsu sat on the tatami, resting her chin in her hand as she gathered her thoughts. She intended to approach the Prince Nagaya incident from several angles to better formulate a countermeasure.

First, it was certain that Prince Nagaya’s vengeful spirit was currently being controlled and utilized by someone to specifically target the Fujiwara’s Kanpaku branch. They were using some method to govern the spirit, directing the focus and intensity of its vengeance.

This was evident from the fact that only the Kanpaku house was afflicted while other branches were spared. After all, if the spirit were left to its own devices, every Fujiwara in Heian-kyo would likely be targeted. The four sons who had conspired to kill him and his family were the direct ancestors of almost all modern Fujiwaras; for Prince Nagaya to target only the main house was highly suspicious. It was very likely that his curse had been specifically guided to concentrate its power on the Kanpaku lineage, thereby greatly amplifying its lethality.

Curiously, though the controller had narrowed the target to the Kanpaku house, they didn't seem to want to deliver a killing blow immediately. Otherwise, the previous surge of the curse wouldn't have been pulled back so easily. It seemed the controller's intent was to slowly bleed them out, continuously weakening the Fujiwara's ability to resist.

And then... once the Fujiwara’s defenses reached their absolute lowest point, they would make their move. But what was their ultimate goal?

With various thoughts swirling in her mind, Miketsu sat in silence for a long time before looking at Tsuruha, who was sitting quietly beside her.

"Tsuruha, tell me, what kind of existence is a vengeful spirit, exactly?"

"Hmm... a vengeful spirit... They are ghosts that have been extremely distorted by resentment. They are a group of pathetic beings who exist solely for the sake of their hatred, Lady Uka," Tsuruha answered softly after a moment of thought.

"Existing only for resentment?"

"Yes. Hatred is the foundation that keeps them tethered to this world. They possess almost no reason; the more powerful they are, the more insane they become. Their existence is solely to vent their grudge through revenge against those who harmed them in life. That is their only purpose," Tsuruha explained earnestly. Miketsu listened intently before asking another question.

"Then, can a vengeful spirit be controlled?"

"In this mortal world, everything has the potential to be controlled by jujutsu. However, vengeful spirits are undoubtedly the most difficult to master. Their consciousness and emotions are too extreme and violent. The difficulty of controlling them is immense, and even if one succeeds, things can go wrong very easily."

"Meaning they are unstable..." Hearing Tsuruha's words, Miketsu thought of Prince Nagaya's sudden burst of madness earlier.

"Then Tsuruha, you just said their primary purpose is revenge against the perpetrators. But what if the perpetrators are already dead?" Miketsu continued her questioning.

"Even if the direct perpetrators are dead, a vengeful spirit will not stop. They will expand the scope of their hatred, seeking revenge against the family and kin of the perpetrators along bloodlines. Anyone with a blood connection to the perpetrator becomes a target. And... the closer the blood relation to the perpetrator, the more it stokes the spirit's rage..." Tsuruha answered. Her words made Miketsu’s brow twitch.

"Blood relations... If that's the case..."

"Lady Uka!!" Right then, a familiar voice called out. Outside the villa, the white fox Konkiku was running toward them as fast as she could.

"What is it, Konkiku?"

"Huff... huff... I just received a report from the foxes at the base of the mountain. There’s a strange white-haired girl who has been crouching by that broken fox statue at the eastern foot since this afternoon. She looks exactly like the one you told us to keep a close eye on, Lady Uka." Konkiku took a long, relieved breath as she spoke. Some time ago, Miketsu had specifically instructed them to report immediately if a strange white-haired girl ever lingered there.

Hearing Konkiku's words, Miketsu felt a jolt of recognition. She knew instantly who had come. It was the immortal girl she had saved from the control of the demonic sword—Fujiwara no Mokou!

She had promised to help her integrate into the current Fujiwara family.