"For a country that's said to be shrouded in chaos, it somewhat feels tranquil." Jevil second-guessed his assumptions as to the environment that he's met with upon entering the country of Helvetum. He looked completely out of place as he first saw the wall of a nearby border town. The country borders Bovoyna, but there was no such attacks happening between the two countries. His first thought was that they could be allied, but he completely doubted it after seeing Bovoyna's army once.
"Well, getting into the town would be easy. But seeing that carriage, all those people seem to have some horn." He was actually sitting on the roadside as he rechecked his valuables. Taking notice of the carriage that was carrying a lot of men that had horns on their head, he realized something. "Extreme strength? So probably Oni? To think that youkai would exist in this world, so this country's theme is Japanese mythology?" With some crazy assumption, Jevil thought that he would be able to encounter other types of youkai with a similar style to humans. He stood up and let his giant scythe rest on his shoulder. The oni quickly took notice of his weapon and immediately put up their guard. "That looks dangerous... Is he the reaper...?" "Doesn't seem like it... He looks more human than youkai to be honest..." "H-He's waving at us..." "Keep your guard up..." Such chatter could be heard in the carriage but Jevil didn't hear the full details of the talk. "Good day, is this travelling towards the town? I'd like to get into the town before night falls." The coachman panicked slightly, as he finally got a clearer view of the dangerous looking scythe resting on Jevil's shoulder. "U-Uhh... Are you a traveler perhaps?" "Yep, I plan to visit many countries to learn culture." Jevil told a lie, to which the oni coachman immediately noticed. "We oni, hate lies, but it seems you're telling half of it the truth. So I'd like to confirm your purpose now." Jevil's expression turned serious, as he realized that he had already made a mistake in his travel. "Oh? My bad, but I'm simply traveling here for my vacation trip. I'd like to avoid any kind of trouble if I can help it but, I have a purpose here that I cannot explain to anybody else." "Suspicious, where are you from?" "Preeliance." With a straight and immediate answer, the coachman was now shaken as Jevil released a bit of his intimidation aura. "Let's just say I'm here to investigate something as [Sentinel of Aggravation]. Understand?" "Y-Yes... Do enter the carriage, we plan to stay on the town for a couple of days, so if you're in a rush, you may go ahead." Jevil started chatting to the oni about the country of Helvetum.
"So since I'm seeing oni in this country, is it safe to assume that the country is led by youkai?" "Yeah, the four races that dominate the largest territories are the tengu, kitsune, the demons, and us the oni. Each leader eventually goes to the center of our country for a meeting between four leaders, led by the shrine. If an incident were to happen within the groups, like a civil war, or a war between two territories, the shrine would take action." "Take action? What would happen when the shrine takes action?" "The culprits of any incident will be taken down, likely killed." "So any incident could be punishable by death huh...?" "Yep, so we haven't really been able to get any new incidents for a while. After the new shrine maiden was born, everything seemed to have slowed down." "Heh? I guess I won't have to worry, how long was the last incident?" "It happened before the youngest shrine maiden of this generation was born, about twenty years." "Hmm... I think I got my plan now for this trip." The carriage finally arrived as Jevil finished chatting with the oni.
"I'll be staying in the town for a day. Beyond that I'll be going ahead. So thanks for helping me get to town." "Wait, I have to warn you. While we oni hate lies, nobody has been able to get away by lying against the shrine. It's led by another group of youkai along with a small number of human royal-bloods." With Jevil now in the town, he immediately went to look for an inn, bidding the oni a goodbye as he gifted them with some high-grade liquor. With now nobody disturbing him, he opened a communications channel to the order and immediately made a report in his room.
"Reporting early huh? I kinda expected this but it seems you got some immediate information." Jevil actually connected to Draxus, he's currently resting and is completely available to report to. "Well, I remember Archon Arlesk saying that he has a girl that lived in Helvetum once. After gathering bits of information, he made his report.
"Apparently, the governing body of Helvetum is quite different. Four races have their own territories, Demons, Tengu, Kitsune, and Oni." "Hold on, youkai? If there are three great powers in youkai then what about the lesser youkai?" "It seems the youkai that are weaker in rank aren't as many as we could see here, but there are always villages with each kind as far as I heard." "I see... Then what is your plan now?" "My plan is to meet the four leaders, and then find the higher power at the center of this country." "A higher power? So there's a centerpiece of unity between the four territories?" "Yes... It was said that lying does not work against the shrine, so I'm wondering what it could be." "Most likely a youkai that can read minds. I suggest that you should be careful when investigating them. Even with your skill in trickery and aggravation, they will be pretty much unaffected." "Not only that but they take action whenever an incident happens." "Don't go causing an incident then, since they're the ones that take action they may be pretty powerful themselves. There's also the hero there, we can't play proactive there yet. But if you do manage to attain connections to at least three leadership groups, then consider your mission as a success." "Got it." After making his report, Jevil went to sleep as he planned on how to get into the place where the oni hold their government.