Under the blue afternoon sky that avoided the existence of any shadows and the strong sun that gave no respite to the travelers, a long river could be seen running through the lush forest completely. The river was flat, clear and flowed calmly into the distance as if it had no worries in its existence.
"What kind of person places a dangos store in the middle of nowhere, not that I'm complaining... But how illogical."
"Certainly, but now my doubt is whether you will continue to ignore that. Just so you know, following this river leads us straight there."
Finishing chewing what's in his mouth, Asahiko raises his eyes into the distance as his face takes on a more serious expression and as if seeking confirmation his nose twitches slightly sucking in the surrounding air.
"Smoke and blood... Well, that has nothing to do with me."
"Seriously, you're just going to ignore it."
"Yes, Saya... Okay, we'll just look over the top due to it being in the way and not because I'm interested in what's going on over there."
Letting out a sigh at the look on Saya's face that conveys a clear "I know you already", Asahiko quickly finishes off the last few dangos that were still left in his hand, before tapping the hilt of Cloudy Fang in a clear signal that Saya will go inside.
"Better... YES, I'd better change for something that will go more unnoticed and comfortable."
Raising his hands to look at his Onmyōji costume that makes him look like a young nobleman and clearly someone to be assaulted, Asahiko again uses his ability to change his clothes into something more simple, comfortable and worn.
"Now you're talking!"
Christopher/Asahiko pov.
After a moderately fast run and moving away from the main flow of the river, ended up arriving at a village or remains of one to be more exact. The buildings were mostly destroyed, burned and clearly looted if the remains of belongings left randomly strewn about the place where anything to go by. You can also get to smell a faint hint of iron or rust in the air, though that smell is stronger in the structures that were only destroyed and not burned.
"Umm... It was raided recently. But enough time has passed for the blood to dry and the buildings to stop burning, though you can still smell smoke nearby... maybe a few hours ago, a day at most that this has happened."
Saya analyzes the whole situation out loud, so that I would also know what is going on out here. At some point from the distance, in the opposite direction I have come from, the footsteps of horses and the happy shouts of what I determine to be six individuals can be heard.
"Hahaha, I didn't tell them! They are like rats and just like them they leave after they see no danger nearby. That's why you always have to do a second round of cleaning."
"Tsh, what bad luck me thinking that who would be hiding would be a beautiful young lady, let's get this over with at once and burn the remains of the village to erase all evidence."
"I want your sword, the one I have is already completely chipped, hey kid do you even know how to use that thing you have hanging there?"
Snapping out of my thoughts due to the noise generated by the newcomers, I turn around to see about six people who appear to be about 25 to 30 years old, riding gaunt horses and wearing armor that is quite worn.
"I guess."
Before I could finish asking what is obvious, I am assaulted by a few arrows coming from the riders, who are in the back, while those in front just watched with amused eyes the whole scene.
Walking to the side and leaving an illusion of my body being pierced by the multiple arrows, he advanced until he found me in the middle of all of them, before using charm to make them forget having seen me and incidentally also stole the horse from one of them.
"You're going to let them go just like that?"
"Yes, I had only come to observe what was going on and seeing that there are no youkai to defeat, it seems to me that we have nothing to do here."
"It seems you weren't avoiding killing humans just because you were with Kikyo. Now then, I hope you know that those thieves won't stop, they'll go back to looting, burning and killing, making them even greater scourge even than some yokai you've defeated... Even so, you're not going to eliminate them?"
"I know... I just don't want to... I, I... Haaa, let's just go."
It was different to kill a yokai than a human, those things have strange shapes and even the most humanoid ones I've seen are animals guided by primal instincts. No, this is merely an excuse... I've been feeling it, the detachment, the inflated superiority and my null interest in those I don't consider interesting... I don't want to kill humans, I know that if I do, I won't be able to keep ignoring all these emotions that start to take more and more power.
Letting out a sigh and moving my head to the side to get out of these thoughts. I hit the horse with the reins, thus setting me on my way to where I feel the energy of my old tail.