"I don't like this."
Aria smiles and pats Reborn's head.
"Don't be like that, Uncle Reborn. We are humans in Youkai territory. Of course, we will gather some attention."
"No. It is a different kind of attention. Something that I dislike and love at the same time."
While Aria looks at him in confusion, I look at the Youkai around us, who look at us with a content expression. Some of them have an expression of someone who wants to jump at us and fuck us in the street.
I decide to ignore them and continue to follow the Karasu Tengu who greet us at the airport and the one who will take us to the palace. After a few minutes of walking and climbing up a mountain, we arrived in front of a castle.
I can see two people already waiting for me. The first one is another Karasu Tengu, while the other is a Cat Youkai. The Cat Youkai walks forward, bows at us, and says,
"Greetings, honored guests. My name is Hanabi, and I will be your personal maid during your visit. Please follow me. Lady Yasaka is ready to meet you."
We follow Hanabi as she takes us to a large room not too far away from the entrance. When Hanabi opens the sliding door, I see a beautiful woman with golden hair. I can see fox ears on top of her head and nine tails swinging around lazily behind her.
"Welcome to my humble abode, honored guests. My name is Yasaka, and I am the leader of my faction."
I walk forward, bow, and say.
"My name is Valerian Millefiore, and I am the head of the Millefiore Family."
She nods and says.
"Please take a seat. I have already prepared a tea ceremony for you."
The servant in the room takes us to our seats, and I can see three people sitting in the middle of the room with a tea-making set. I look at them and see they move their hands gracefully as they make tea for us.
All of us keep our silence, enjoying the sound of tea being made. Even Reborn sits on the Zabuton and watches the ceremony with a small smile. Huh. I don't know that Reborn loves tea ceremonies. That incarnation of chaos loves this peaceful activity.
===
After four hours, the tea ceremony is done, and the servant leaves the room, leaving our group alone with Yasaka and two people sitting next to her. She looks at me and says,
"Then let's start the meeting, and let me explain the reason why I invite you here, Lord Millefiore."
"Please. I am curious about the reason for the letter I received the other day."
She smiles at me and says.
"The reason why I invite you is to create an alliance between our two factions."
"Really? We are two factions that are very far away, you know?"
"I know. However, it can be ignored by teleportation. I can create a massive magic circle somewhere not too far away from your territory so my people can go there in seconds."
I nod my head and say.
"That is true. If I accept this offer, what do you want from us? And what kind of thing do we need to give to your faction?"
Yasaka takes out a piece of paper from her cleavage and gives it to me. I wonder if there is some kind of pocket dimension in there. I look at the paper as she says.
"First thing first is the Trade Agreement. We will open up a trade between our two factions. We have many things that we can trade for money or even barter with other items. Your faction also has something we want, like plants that only grow in Romania and goods from wild animals that can only live there."
She leans over and says.
"We also want to access your healer, Lord Millefiore."
I look away from the paper and say.
"Oh? Senjutsu users are the best healers in the world, no? Why do you need to access our healer?"
She shakes her head and says.
"Yes. Senjutsu users are the best healers in the world, as they can heal anyone and anything. However, Senjutsu masters are hard to come by. Senjutsu is a dangerous and hard art to learn. One wrong move, and you will go insane. Because of this, there are not too many senjutsu masters who can heal someone. There are a lot of Senjutsu users, warriors that use natural energy to fight, but rarely anyone masters Senjutsu enough for them to heal someone."
"Ah, I see."
"Yes. We, Youkai, love to fight, and because of this, many of us get hurt. As you said earlier, we are the best healer. We can heal even Soul Injury. However, there are not many of us. We need numbers, and your people can heal our race without making us uncomfortable or even hurt in the process."
Of course, we can. Unlike magic healing, Sun Flame did not require calling over specific kinds of magic to heal specific races.
"I see. That is understandable. What about this defensive alliance?"
"Just like written there, I want to offer a defensive alliance. When one of our factions gets attacked, we will help the one that gets attacked. However, we will not help you if you decide to attack another faction and vice versa. We will make an exception for the vampires because nobody likes them. They are creatures born from taboo magic."
I nod my head in understanding, but at the same time, my mind thinks of why they are offering me this. After a few seconds, something clicked in my mind. I am in the late nineties, a few years before the canon timeline starts.
I don't know if the Devil has already taken over Kuoh, but I have a feeling it is because of that.
"Is this pact because some devils want to rent land in Japan?"
She looks at me in shock before saying.
"How do you know that information? They just made contact with us not too long ago."
"I have my way. So you want us to help you in case they start a problem, huh?"
Yasaka sighs and says.
"Let me be honest here. Yes. I want your faction to help us fight them in case they create a problem here. They have already created many problems in Europe and have been kicked out of the American continent. They cannot go to China because the Heavenly Court hates them, and the Hindu Pantheon will not allow them to settle in their territory. That leaves Korea and Japan."
"And why do you guys agree to this?"
Yasaka looks at me right in the eyes and says,
"I did not. Nurarihyon is the one agreeing to this deal. Tokyo and the eastern part of Japan are his territory, and he agrees to rent Kuoh Town to the Devil."
"Why? He must have known that they are a problem, right?"
"I don't know the details, but it must be something very big or expensive for them to agree to accept them into his territory."
Then why did he attack them in the latter part of the novel? Urgh. I will think about it later.
I put the paper away and say.
"I agree with this."
"Perfect!"
She claps her hands, and I can see a scroll appear in the air. As it unfurls, I can see what was written on the paper before it is in the scroll. Yasaka takes out a pen and signs the scroll before giving me the pen. I sign it, and suddenly, the scroll clone itself. Yasaka gives one of them to me and says,
"With this! We are now an ally! If you need something, please tell us."
I nod and look at Aria for a second before saying.
"Can I hire one of your healers to cure my friend here from her curse?"