Chapter 44 Let’s Wreck the Seiryuusai Festival with Evil Dragon! ⑤
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
In this turmoil-ridden Japan where chimimōryō [T/N: malicious spirits from folklore] prowled like weeds through the cracks of the world, the government had long since joined hands with private corporations to fight the youma. People always imagined youma as intangible things—phantoms, curses, shadows—but they were nothing more or less than living creatures with real flesh. And if something had flesh, then steel could cut it. For all the legends about them, most youma weren’t immune to modern weaponry. If the Self-Defense Force got called out, they could wipe out nearly any youma without much trouble.
The problem was never killing them. The problem was knowing what you were facing before you lost half your team trying. Every youma carried its own warped Supernatural Ability, its strength and instincts wildly different from the next, and there was no fixed manual for how to fight them. Misjudge the threat, and you ended up with a bloodbath. That was why this world still needed exorcists and spirit arts adepts—humans strong enough and strange enough to survive anything.
”We’ve been searching for ways to counter curses regardless of spiritual ability,” one official said, bowing slightly, voice trembling with effort. “We humbly ask for the Head-sama’s insight.”
In Japan, few names held more spiritual weight than ours. It was normal for people from the Financial World to seek out the Shiryuin Clan when all else failed. Our clan had connections spread like veins through the whole exorcist world, and we had a track record of dragging even the worst disasters to resolution. So as the Host of the Seal Dragon Festival, most of my work tonight was exactly this—listening to people who stood in long winding lines, each clutching their own spiritual crises like fragile bombs.
The exorcist world was closed off, suffocatingly so. They believed in the superiority of those born with spiritual ability, hated sharing their knowledge, and guarded their old rights and power like starving dogs over scraps. Especially when it came to curses that could strike anyone—ability or not—they would never open their mouths unless someone with overwhelming authority forced them. And right now, that “someone” was me, the Head of the Shiryuin Clan.
”Our house will share what we know,” I said, letting my Host voice slip out smooth as silk. “We’ve built up a thousand years of knowledge. Once the Seal Dragon Festival concludes, you will receive the details.”
”T-thank you…! To receive guidance from the Head-sama himself—!”
The government official’s shoulders sagged as if I’d lifted a mountain from them, and he bent low with sincere gratitude sparkling in his eyes. They knew as well as I did how sealed-off this world was. If the spiritual main house of the Shiryuin Clan itself was opening its vault of secrets, it would save countless lives. He probably wanted to cry.
Good. I was planning to dismantle the house anyway. Might as well throw open the vaults and use this to forge connections with the Financial World—tight, unbreakable ones.
Of course, it wasn’t charity. Seeing just how far the Bloodline Purification Rite had rotted the exorcist world, I needed allies out here for the kids’ sake. I would never let them sink into this. I’d build them a place in the light, give them positions, titles, anything they needed in the public world to keep them from being dragged down into this filth.
It was only the exorcist world that had been poisoned by the Rite, where family pedigree and bloodline were the only currency that mattered. To the rest of society, its supposed blessings weren’t worth the crushing social disadvantages. No sane parent would ever want their children close to this, where inbreeding was becoming not just common but celebrated.
So I kept working the room, talking with ministers and CEOs, weaving connections like spider silk. Even if I promised to open the Shiryuin Clan’s thousand years of knowledge, most of it still required spiritual ability to even handle. Which meant the Financial World would have no choice but to keep depending on our side for anything spiritual.
And that was fine. Because Sakuya and Uigetsu, with the blood of the Evil Dragon flowing in their veins, stood at the highest possible spiritual rank. If they stayed clear of the exorcist world’s chains yet carried the name of its greatest main house, they would be seen as treasures by both government and private sectors. They’d be offered golden treatment before they even asked for it.
If any noble families dared protest the loss of their old privileges, Yaten and I could crush them.
In the end, this world was still just a primitive hierarchy where only strength ruled. If the Evil Dragon Yaten took the throne of a god, the sheer gap in power would make it impossible for any noble house to even raise its voice.
No one who understood survival would dare stand against her. She was too strong, too beautiful, too cunning—like trying to fight a collapsing star. Unless someone was desperate enough to risk their entire fortune, they would stay quiet. I knew that with the bone-deep certainty of someone who had lived in this world too long.
Power ruled the exorcist world. In a way, its power struggles were simpler, easier to control, than the ones in the public world.
And yet… even with me handing out pieces of the Shiryuin Clan’s vault like candy, Seiichi hadn’t come to stop me. That was strange. He was the Branch Family Head, and the Branch Family’s role had always been to act as the balancer.
Even if he didn’t drag me away, he should’ve said something. What I was doing was close to heresy, tearing at the old vested rights of every noble house alive. Even if it was just words for now, words spoken on the sacred ground of the Seal Dragon Festival carried weight. If I were the Branch Family, I would’ve thrown my whole body in the way.
But Seiichi had done nothing. Not a single word.
That silence felt heavier than any curse.
I let my eyes drift across the ceremonial plaza. The place was packed, thousands of guests swirling like petals on a storm. And yet not a single sane-looking Branch Family member was anywhere to be seen. Every exorcist woman in sight was heavy with pregnancy, glowing with the twisted pride of the Bloodline Purification Rite, while most of the men stood nearby like decorative guardians, smiles stiff as lacquer. It was chaos, madness dressed in brocade. And the one group of people I should’ve been most wary of—the Branch Family—had simply vanished.
Only Seiichi remained, politely receiving guests like the perfect host. But even as I traded away guarded secrets, he showed no sign of acting, no flicker of movement from him or anyone tied to him. The stillness crawled up my spine like cold water.
”Head-sama? Is something wrong?” one of the officials asked, blinking up at me.
”…No. Nothing. Let’s continue with the details of your proposal.”
Maybe the Branch Family thought they could undo any promise I made later, since my word alone couldn’t bind the whole clan without their consent. Maybe that was their quiet confidence.
Or maybe they were planning something far worse.
The longer I stood there smiling, the more that absence clawed at me. The festival clock crept toward midnight—the peak of the Seal Dragon Festival—yet hours had passed without a glimpse of any Branch Family face but Seiichi’s. It was too obvious they were plotting something. I just couldn’t see what.
”Seiichi,” I said quietly when he drifted near, “some of the Branch Family seem… absent.”
He gave the faintest shrug, his voice dry. “They are likely… in the middle of performing the Bloodline Purification Rite. Honestly. It’s troublesome.”
Notes:
• Seiichi – Branch family head, loyal but quietly disturbed by the clan’s decline. Cautious, more grounded.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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