User blog:Pollux83/Beyond Light and Darkness, Chapter 26

Chapter Overview

26 Zipangu



 The island kingdom of Zipangu. The goal of my journey. A week at sea had passed and except for a slight motion sickness, I was fine. However, one of the soldiers did not handle the trip well and fed the fish most of the time.

On our journey we were accompanied by 2 mermaids. They took care of us and the ship. Unfortunately, they did not understand any of my words and I did not understand them. Not everyone spoke the language of the West.





 We finally reached a harbor and went ashore. Here I was. I had reached Zipangu. The land where humans and Mamono have lived together for centuries. A land full of secrets. And I wanted to uncover as many of them as possible.

It was only the question where to start. First I had to learn more about the country and its people, to find out why this country did not become a demon realm. This was by far the biggest secret of Zipangu.



 The entire country was known for the many temples and shrines. In these places, people prayed to various monsters. Mostly to cats, foxes and dragons. That had not changed in this era, except perhaps that the Mamono were praying with them.



 I supposed that these special places contained the answer. Maybe there was holy energy there that neutralized the demonic energy. We opened our map and discussed our further actions. One of these temples was a bit north of our current location. It would take us 3 days to reach it, so we bought enough supplies in the city and left.



 It was a relaxed trip without any incidents. With the amount of Mamono you would have thought we would be attacked, but everything was completely peaceful. This country was really strange.

The temple stood near a small village in a forest. The wind rustled through the trees, the sun was shining. It was pleasantly quiet there, really peaceful. I could have spent the whole day there, but we were not there for fun. We made the device ready for use.



 An old woman and a man were praying in the temple. They put these incense sticks in a box. Then they sat on their legs and worshiped a fox statue. A terribly uncomfortable way to pray. Compared with that I even preferred the hard wooden benches of the Order.

Otherwise, there was only one Inari here, who probably took care of the temple. She had black hair and 3 tails and wore a white and red robe.



 She kept glancing over what we were doing, but was not too curious. So we could work in peace. We turned on the device and it started to hum. It had apparently survived the journey well and worked perfectly.

Slowly we gathered the light. However, the accumulated amount of energy was underwhelming. A bit more than normal, but far too little to be worth collecting. I collected it anyway. You never know.

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<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> Our first target was a failure. I already knew that from my other travels and was not too disappointed. We did not lose too much time and got ready for departure.

Kai had spent the day meanwhile in the village and already befriended with some residents. One of his many talents. We picked him up and headed for the next destination. Plenty of time to talk.

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<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> "Hey Kai? Had a nice day?" "I had. The people here in the village are really friendly. And you? Did you have success?" "Unfortunately not. At least, there is no holy energy here." "I'm sorry to hear." He patted my shoulder. "No problem. I'm glad if 1 of 10 places possesses greater amounts of holy energy." "That is not much." "I know. But it can not be changed."

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<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> "What about you? Did the villagers talk to you?" "They have. But only after they had lost their fear. The soldiers of the Order should really learn to smile more often." "That comes from the training. It doesn't make fun." "Then they should urgently include humor in the training plan. Anyway, after the ice broke, the people became more talkative. " "Did you find out a lot?" "More than from the city dwellers." "That seems to be the same everywhere. Must be due to the hustle and bustle of the city." "Probably."

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<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> "So after they finally had no fear and talked to me, I started to gain their trust. I told them something about us and Niskara. It may be that I exaggerated a bit." "With us or Niskara?" "Both? Does not matter anyway. We were talking and eventually the residents began to talk about their homeland. Really nice little village. For the most part, they are self-sufficient and regularly deliver wood to the nearby city." "That's interesting, but not what I'm interested in right now." "Mareus, do not interrupt me. Over time, more and more people came. The children were especially curious. We exchanged stories." "What kind of stories?"

<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> "I just want to tell you that. According to the legends of this land, people here have been living with the Yokai, that's what they call the Mamono, for millennia." "Millennia?" "Yes. Some legends are over 3000 years old." "Wow. That is old. That must have been before the high culture of the elves." "Weren't that the oldest books you have?" "Yes, but only if you do not count the books that are written in dead languages. They could be who knows how old." "You and your books. Let me guess. You want to visit a library here." "And how much I want that." "You realize that you do not speak the language?" For a moment I was dumbfounded. "I solve the problem when the time comes." "I will not translate the books for you." Too bad. I had to come up with a new idea.

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<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> "You had mentioned legends." "Yes. Want to hear the founding story of Zipangu?" "You will tell me anyway." "Well, once upon a time there was a princess and a dragon." "Wait. I know where this is going." "Where?" "Many children." "Spoilsport." "Is not the first legend of this kind I hear of." "You mean read." "You should probably read more books too." "Why? I have you!" Kai patted my back. He was so funny.

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<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> "OK, what else did the villagers tell you?" "Well, the Mamono, I mean the Yokai have been worshiped here since ... actually always. Anyway, nobody could remember that it was different." "Considering that Mamono used to be bloodthirsty beasts, I would say it was not always that way." "I'm guessing that after the thing with the princess and the dragon something has changed." "Possible. I'm just wondering if people and monsters could have children together at that time?" "Do you think the legend is true?" "Parts of legends are mostly true. Possible is a lot. All I know is that the properties of demonic energy are determined by the demon lord. Much has changed with every new Lord."

<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> "Really?" Kai looked at me questioningly. "Yes. What do you think why this era is called the era of corruption? Where the names of only a few ages are still handed down. I just assume that demonic energy has not corrupted the land and the people in the past. Or that it was at least reversible." "Do you know what has changed?" "No. No idea. The current demon lord is a succubus. That's why the Mamono are so pretty. But what is so special about Succubi, I do not know. I guess mere coincidence." "You call it coincidence?" "What else? Do you think it was fate?" "I do not have a clue either." "If it was fate, then someone has a very own sense of humor." We were silent for a while.

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<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> "Did not you want to tell me anything about Yokai?" "Yes, I wanted. So the Yokai are worshiped here. What is obvious with all the temples." "That's impossible to overlook." "Correct. Some are even worshiped as gods." "Not surprising considering the capabilities of Mamono." "Let me finish. Some time ago, the Yokai changed and since then, Yokai and humans live even closer together." Kai paused.

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<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> "May I say something now?" "Yes." "That must have been at the beginning of this era." "I thought so too." "How did humans and Yokai lived together before?" "They have been given oblations." "People too?" "In exceptional cases, yes. Most Yokai have been content with fruits or deer." "Sounds quite normal so far. There were similar rituals in some primitive civilizations. But here it seems to be an everyday ritual. Maybe that's why people and monsters got along so well?" "So if you bring me regularly something to eat, then I would be peaceful too." "Above all, you would be roly-poly." "I would not." I had to hide my laughing because Kai's wife was cooking too well for him.

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<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> "Humans and Yokai definitely live well together. There are not more problems with them than with humans. Only so-called Oni are a problem. These are the more uncivilized monsters. They are often aggressive and sometimes dangerous." "Oni. I've already read about them." "Why do you even ask me if you already know everything?" "I need someone to check the stories." "Thank you very much." He did not look happy. "Come on. I do not mean it that way." He just grumbled in response.

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<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> "Do you have more information about the Oni?" "Not much. Meanwhile, they no longer eat humans. But the villagers did not know any more than that. The Oni seem to live in more remote mountainous areas. No one had ever seen one here." "Then at least we are forewarned."

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<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> "The villagers told me something interesting. Namely, that humans and Yokai went to war together from time to time. But you already knew that." Knowing, I grinned at Kai. "I have my sources." "Of course you have." He rolled his eyes. "The Order has been trying to gain control over Zipangu for a long time. Without success. They even bribed warlords to take Zipangu for them. That always led to an alliance of humans and monsters, I mean Yokai. The warlord was defeated and everything was back to normal. If you ask me, then the Order would need its entire army to take Zipangu. In contrast to the Mamono in the West, they understand something about military strategy." "You know what you're saying?" Kai looked at me seriously. "Yes. As long as the war continues in the West, Zipangu is safe. You would have to laugh about it if it were not so tragic." "Is it really that bad there?" I was silent.

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<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> Kai had confirmed some of the statements in the book. So Zipangu was not really free of problems with Mamono. But compared to the areas of the Order it was idyllic here. There was a real war and I don't want to mention the border regions.

So most of the Mamono actually lived peacefully with humans. The length of this relationship was impressive. Even before the age of Mamono, humans had managed to appease the monsters. But how? The offerings alone could not have been the answer. There had to be more behind it. Interbreeding between humans and monsters? Unlikely. The people here were too human. Maybe it was the Mamono themselves? What could be their secret?

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<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 150%"> I had brought 2 black crystals extra for this purpose. Now I needed suitable Mamono to verify a few theses. According to the book, Ryu, Inari and Nekomata were suitable. I came to the same conclusion. The 3 were most frequently worshiped in Zipangu. But that still had some time. Before that we had other places to check.

We continued our journey.