Marco and Alice reached the place, Yamatai Village. The houses had a japanese style, the one from the feudal era, the fields were at the side of rivers to help the growth of plants.
Right now they, with Alice in her monster form, were checking the place, in Alice's case the food...
Marco: It seems a nice place…
Alice: Hmm, hmm, hmm. What to eat…
Marco: Holy mother of god… I fear for the state of the village after we leave…
Alice punched Marco's shoulder in anger and Marco laughed. Meanwhile people were worshiping random monsters and giving them food…
Villagers: Oh! Mighty Cat! / Mighty Cat! Thank you! Here, look!
Marco giggled at the sudden scene, and turned around to talk a bit with Alice, but was surprised from finding villagers surrounding Alice.
Old Man: Oh! Mighty Snake!
The old man bows in front of Alice and claps his hands together twice.
Old Woman: Mighty Snake! Thank you! Here… Ah… WHat do Mighty Snakes eat again?
Alice: …
Marco: …
Villagers: …
Alice: ...You start with soba.
Marco facepalmed and groaned while Alice let out a satisfactory smile.
Old Woman: Ah! Soba! Please wait a moment. Mighty Snake!
Old Man: "To start with"...? Then that means that isn't enough!
Old Woman: She's a greedy Mighty Snake! We must pray to her first!
Marco: Jesus… Wherever you are… Please give me the patience to survive through this, because I might break something if you give me strength…
The old woman turned back with soba, and gave it to Alice.
Old Woman: Mighty Snake! Here, soba!
Alice: Hmm, hmm. Thanks for your generous offer.
Then she laid across a nearby stone and started to eat the soba that was offered to her, suddenly, the villagers noticed something else and walked toward it, Marco followed them with his eyes and founda familiar face…
Old Man: Oh! Mighty Fox!
Old Woman: Thank you… Please wait a moment, we'll bring some thin fried tofu!
?: ...Oh? Hey Marco!
Marco closed his eyes and let out a long sigh in exasperation while relaxing his body.
Marco: ...Tamamo… You know what? Fuck this, I'm not even going to ask why you are here…
Tamamo came near him and whispered to his ear with a serious expression.
Tamamo: Hey, does she know?
Marco: Not yet… But I am sure she will find out one day, I almost got found out due to my reputation as the Crimson Fucker…
Tamamo stepped back and sighed in relief. Then both of them looked at Alice, and found that she was too distracted to look at them.
Suddenly, an elder came near them and said with a smile.
Elder: Oh! Mighty Traveler! Mighty Fox! Mighty Snake! Welcome to Yamatai Village!
Marco: And you are, sir?
Elder: I'm the Chief of this village. You may have already heard, but there has been some trouble in this village recently…
Marco: Hm? What happened?
Marco knew about what was happening, but since he and Alice never heard of it in Grand Noah, he needed to act as if he was ignorant about the situation. Alice finished her soba and slithered beside Marco.
Alice: Hmph. Shall we listen to his request?
Marco: Alright… 'This will be a problem… I could just leave, but it seems that Alice and Tamamo will have a bad opinion for me, and this concerns coexistence unlike the problem at the Colosseum, since the Queen wanted only to see a human winner…'
Chief: Shall we speak somewhere else?
Then Marco, Alice, and under Marco's expectations, Tamamo, followed the Chief to his house. While they were walking in the calm streets, the Chief spoke.
Chief: Currently, Yamatai Village is in quite a troublesome spot due to a particular monster… Her name is Yamata no Orochi.
Alice: Yamata no Orochi… Indeed, normal humans could do nothing against her.
Chief: Yamata is demanding a villager to be sacrificed to her… One young man per year… If we don't send her the sacrifice, she'll destroy the village… That's what she said when she came, five years ago.
Marco: Five… So…
Chief: ...We are weak. We can't do anything against a monster like that. So far, we have sent five sacrifices to her…
Marco: Normally I would have thought that she would feed on their flesh… But from your tone and the calm villagers walking around I don't think that's so…
Chief: Yeah, Yamata said she wasn't going to kill the sacrifices. To prove it, she sends back the previous year's sacrifice when we send the new one…
Marco sighed and took a cigarette, before asking the system to lighten it up, it seems that since he would only need to lighten a cigarette, the System helped him with that, if it was something important then it would refuse helping Marco.
He inhaled a bit and exhaled smoke, then he said.
Marco: I think I know where this is going… A strong monster girl, sacrifices that were unharmed and turned back every year… How are the sacrifices?
The Chief sighed and stopped in front of a large building, then he opened the door, Marco, Alice and Tamamo followed him inside and he started to talk.
Chief: This is a meeting hall for the young men of the village. Please come this way…
Then he took the three of them to a big room, and pointed to an emaciated young man.
Chief: Please look. He is the sacrifice that came back last year.
The young man was mumbling things to himself while laying down on a futon.
Youth: Ahh… Master Yamata… Where's Master Yamata…?
A nurse came beside him to help him and said.
Nurse: Yamata isn't here any longer. You're safe here.
Youth: No… Not that… Master Yamata… More, more… Suck more… I don't care if it kills me any more…
Marco: Well, I think the monster made a great job at brainwashing… weakening the will of a person, and slowly putting informations in his head, his willpower broke and was completely brainwashed…
Chief: Yeah… As you can see, they come back broken… They recover after about a year… But they're precious young workers. And that isn't the only problem…
Then the Chief glanced to a wall, where sounds of men arguing to each other came from.
Marco: ...Curiosity… Hearing sacrifices that comes safely but with a face that tells them they were in heaven made them incredibly curious, so much that they want to feel about the pleasure in first person…
The Chief nodded and guided them to the other room. Inside the room there were 4 young men arguing to each other.
Young Man 1: No, don't worry. I'll be the sacrifice!
Young Man 2: Stop trying to show off! I'll be the sacrifice!
Young Man 3: No, no! I can't let either of you do that! I'll be the sacrifice!
Young Man 4: No, you guys are too valuable! I'm lazy and bad at working, it's obvious I should be the one to be sacrificed!
Marco sighed and exhaled another cloud of smoke from his mouth.
Young Man 1: Don't pull that crap! Everyone knows I should be sacrificed!
Young Man 2: You're a hard worker here, bitch! I couldn't bear the thought of your mother crying over you… I'll be the sacrifice!
Young Man 3: I can't let you guys go through with it! I'll be the sacrifice, no matter what!
Young Man 4: I'll be the sacrifice, so you guys protect the village in my absence!
The Chief turned towards the guests and said.
Chief: As you can see and what the Traveler told… It's pathetic, but every young man wants to be the sacrifice.
Alice: ...Idiots. Idiots everywhere. Why don't you just send all of those idiots out as sacrifices?
Marco: There aren't many young men… I noticed that the village had many elders, but the young men were at the same number, so taking them away all at once greatly reduces the manpower to work in the fields.
Chief: He's right… Every single young man is a valuable worker for us… *Sigh* If I was sixty years younger…
Marco: …
Marco looked at the Chief as if he was an idiot, but the Chief immediately cleared the misunderstanding.
Chief: Ah, no, no. If I was only sixty years younger, I could have gotten rid of Yamata. Hahaha…
His face quickly turned gloomy after the laugh, and said.
Chief: We would be shorthanded without our workers in the fields… So for the first sacrifice, the laziest man was sent… But now that they all want to be the sacrifice, they're competing against each other to be as lazy as possible. That's the troublesome situation this village is in…
Marco: This made me remember the situation at Happiness Village… I wonder how they are now…
Chief: Now please, step this way…
Then the Chief guided them out from the room and leaded them to a corner of the building. Then the Chief nervously looked around and softly whispered in Marco's ear.
Chief: So, please… Can you defeat Yamata no Orochi?
Marco closed his eyes and thought, Alice, the Chief and Tamamo looked at him expectantly, and he finally answered.
Marco: Alright, I'll do this thing…
*Ding*
*Special Quest: Defeat Yamata no Orochi*
Alice: Hmm, hmm, hmm… I wonder what the reward is?
Tamamo: I'll assist in taking out that impudent fool.
Marco: It's alright, I don't need help…
Tamamo patted his shoulder and said with a grin.
Tamamo: Don't worry, more help will never hurt.
Then she turned towards the Chief and said with a mischievous grin.
Tamamo: Name Marco as this year's sacrifice. Then Marco can eliminate the fool. If Marco loses, then he'll just really be the sacrifice, but I don't think he will.
Marco: *Sigh* Whatever…
He took out the cigarette, which was too short now, and turned it off with his fingers before putting it in his pocket.
Chief: Then I can leave it all to you? In that case, tonight would be the best night to carry it out…
Marco: Don't worry, I will certainly defeat it. 'One day I would come here to take her down if I don't do it now, since she is a problem in my objective.'
Chief: Ah, thank you for being so understanding! But please keep this quiet from the young men. If they find out we're planning on getting rid of her, they might riot.
Marco: If they come to me I will break at least one of their limbs…
*Ding*
*Special Quest: Break a limb for each human enemy that comes before you beat Yamata no Orochi*
The Chief was a bit intimidated from Marco's words, but said it anyways.
Chief: I'l convince them to name you as the sacrifice, if you wish so, you can wait at the guest room. Now then, if you excuse me…
Then the Chief walked towards the room where the men were arguing, meanwhile Marco walked to the guest room with Alice and Tamamo to rest since they would leave this night.
[SPECIAL QUESTS]
1st. Kick Gabriel's ass
2nd. Achieve coexistence between Monsters and Humans
3rd. Kill Illias
4th. Return to Lucifina's grave
5th. Visit every places in Illias Continent, Sentora and Hellgondo
6th. Turn back to Sabasa Kingdom
7th. Visit Kitsune Village using the Nine Tailed Cub System
8th. Defeat Yamata no Orochi
9th. Break a limb for each human enemy that comes before you beat Yamata no Orochi