A few minutes later...
With no other choice, Yasutaka explained the whole business in detail, and the old man finally caught on.
"Can't say you've got it easy either, kid..."
Grumbling as much, the old man pressed his red-hot branding iron onto both the lizard and the mysterious mandarin orange, leaving his mark on each, then tossed only the lizard's severed head into the basket.
Sizzzzle...
The old man dunked the iron stamp in water to cool it, then peered hard at the mandarin orange.
"Never seen a demon like this one before... Maybe that rumor's true after all."
"What rumor?"
"The one about a Demon King showing up."
Yasutaka's face soured at the words.
"Lately demons nobody's ever laid eyes on before have been popping up all over the place. Word is a new Demon King might've shown its face."
"Huh. Is that right..."
Yasutaka crossed his arms and cocked his head at the old man's words.
A Demon King, as history tells it, is the chieftain of demons who have shattered civilizations since time began.
Once, this world gave rise to a great many civilizations:
the Coral Civilization, where the fish-folk flourished through Wave Arts,
the Forest-Insect Civilization, where the insect-folk and forest-folk flourished through Yin-Yang Arts,
the Dragon King Civilization, where the dragon-folk flourished through Qi Arts,
the Terror Bird Civilization, where the bird-folk flourished through Sacred Hymn Arts,
and the Beast Civilization, where the beast-folk flourished through Transformation Arts.
Through the passing of one civilization after another, a Demon King had risen each time and brought the world to ruin.
Each of these civilizations carried a history spanning nearly a hundred thousand years and had built up great and advanced societies... and yet a Demon King had crushed every one of them like it was nothing.
"Whenever a Demon King has shown up in the past, chaos follows. Wouldn't be strange at all if the whole world got turned upside down, even short of wiping out civilization entirely."
"That's a hell of a thing to hear."
Yasutaka's face soured.
Naturally, there wasn't just one or two Demon Kings to speak of.
The ancient civilizations had beaten back Demon Kings more times than anyone could count.
But in the end, whichever Demon King appeared last had always crushed them without mercy, leaving them no way to fight back.
There was no guarantee the current civilization wouldn't meet the same fate.
The old head inspector spoke quietly.
"That's why the Council of Elders is scrambling to gather information. If you turn up anything, make sure you report it."
"Yeah, yeah."
So Yasutaka answered the old man.
The old man touched the iron stamp with his hand to check that it had cooled, then handed it over to Yasutaka.
Finally, he handed over a handful of vouchers.
"Here. Exchange vouchers. Adds up to a tidy sum, don't it?"
"Thanks, old man."
With that, he took his leave of the old man.
These vouchers could be traded for cash at the exchange office.
In short, the whole setup worked just like the payout counter at a pachinko parlor.
As for why it was run this way, well, it was because every so often some fool would bring in a fake head and try to bully his way to a payout when he got caught.
Of course, anyone who tried that would end up with a bounty on his own head and find himself unable to work as a Shogunate-licensed Kabukimono ever again, so not many idiots actually went through with it. Still, there was never a shortage of them trying.
Setting that aside, Yasutaka made his way into the magistrate's office.
Inside was an earthen-floored hall scattered with chairs here and there, a spot where folks could sit and catch their breath.
Yasutaka walked up to the barred counter and handed his vouchers to the office's resident beauty with a word.
"Hey there, Otora. Cute as ever, aren't you?"
"Oh, you're such a smooth talker, Yasutaka! Here's your number ticket."
"How about going on a date with me sometime?"
"Ohhh? Now what should I do about that?"
Otora put on a thoughtful face as she said it, but that face suddenly drained of all color.
And then...
GRAB!
A pair of lovely hands seized Yasutaka's head in a vise grip!
"Oh, Tacchan? Whatever are you up to?"
"N-no, just making a bit of harmless small talk..."
Mani wore a terrifyingly sweet smile as she glared at him.
"I could've sworn I heard something about a date?"
"Must've been your imagination?"
"Eeeeep..."
Otora tried to flee, trembling with terror, but one of the other clerks stopped her.
"Once you've got your number ticket, please take a seat over there and wait until your number's called."
"Understood."
So saying, Mani kept her grip locked on Yasutaka's head and dragged him along, scraping across the floor.
FWOOSH!
Medea, the beautiful spider-woman shikigami who served Mani, sprang out and bound Yasutaka in silk thread!
"So? What's your relationship with that girl?"
"Um, well, we're still just receptionist and Kabukimono, nothing more."
"'Still'?"
"Forever! We'll be that forever!"
"Good."
With that, Mani unwound the thread.
Then she pulled Yasutaka into a tight embrace and whispered.
"Sorry, Tacchan. Mani gets a little jealous sometimes, and I just start imagining things right away..."
"Y-yeah... sure, I get it..."
Trembling, Yasutaka endured Mani's clingy affection.
Mōha grumbled, looking thoroughly exasperated.
"That guy... he'd completely forgotten, hadn't he."
"Honestly... This old body has told him time and again that man ought to be stopped, and yet..."
The two of them grumbled together, wearing matching looks of exasperation.