Ueno Garden, Ruins of Kan'ei-ji Temple, Ueno
"Man, this place has really gone to ruin......"
Yasutaka gazed at the temple, now nothing but a crumbling ruin.
At his feet already lay one of those quivering, jellyfish-like creatures, dead and still.
Mōha looked around and groaned.
"There's way too many Kuzuyo here... this is going to be a real pain."
Kuzuyo were scattered everywhere around the ruined grounds of Kan'ei-ji.
Even a quick glance suggested there were close to a hundred of them in the garden alone, more than enough to make clearing them out a tall order.
"Best if we hunt down a fair number, then just report back on the situation. Clearing out this many by ourselves is asking too much."
"Yeah."
The two of them lived by a simple rule: never push your luck. Even they knew better than to bite off more than they could chew here.
Mani tilted her head, puzzled.
"Why not? Something this small, you could handle it, couldn't you?"
"If it were just Kuzuyo, sure......"
Yasutaka answered her with a wry laugh.
"You're forgetting that Kuzuyo are the seed stock for Nue. Those things get stronger by merging together."
Now here's an odd little quirk about Kuzuyo, worth a moment's digression. Normally, a Kuzuyo latches onto its prey, oozes digestive fluid from every inch of its body, dissolves the poor victim, and eats it whole. But feed one of them two or more things at once, and it transforms into whatever it just devoured.
"Take the Dan Lizard, easiest example there is: it came about because a Kuzuyo swallowed two women's corpses and a lizard all at once. A Kuzuyo on its own is nothing much, but they breed fast and they can spawn a mob of Nue, so they're dangerous."
That was precisely why Yasutaka was keeping his guard up. Even if the Kuzuyo themselves were harmless enough, there was every chance a Nue had already been born from them.
"Let's just knock out about a hundred and call it a day."
"Alright then, let's start the hunt......"
Shk... shk......
The two of them fell into a rhythm: spot one, cut it down, spot another, cut it down.
Mani watched them work, looking utterly bored.
"Hup... hup......"
Granny Moon, too, was casually dispatching the Kuzuyo nearby with her little knife.
The things moved so sluggishly that even a tough child could manage them, so it was over in no time.
The group carried on hunting Kuzuyo.
Then a man's voice called out to them.
"Hey, you out clearing Kuzuyo too?"
"Huh? Shinnosuke?"
It was Shinnosuke, the crocodilian dragonfolk swordsman from the day before.
Mōha asked, puzzled.
"Wait, didn't you take down some huge monster just yesterday?"
The Kongō Hag that Shinnosuke had felled was a genuine monster of a monster; the bounty alone ought to have kept him living in comfort for a full month.
But Shinnosuke's face went sheepish.
"Hahaha... well, I'd racked up quite a tab at Yoshiwara... and the rest went to tavern bills, and a few other pleasure quarters besides......"
"Just how much did you owe......?"
Even Yasutaka couldn't help but look exasperated.
While they talked, more Kuzuyo kept gathering, one after another.
"So that's how I ended up stuck doing this kind of work too."
With that, Shinnosuke leveled his sword at the cluster of Kuzuyo.
Fwoom......
A faint light wrapped itself around the blade.
It was the qi-craft the dragonfolk were famous for, wreathing his blade in raw 'qi'.
He gave the qi-wrapped blade an easy swing at the Kuzuyo!
Fwash!
The light struck with far more force than the blade's arc alone could account for, and the Kuzuyo were mowed down in a single stroke!
Mōha let out a sigh at the sight.
"Qi-craft sure is convenient."
"Your ninjutsu's plenty convenient too, isn't it?"
Shinnosuke said it with a laugh, and Yasutaka grumbled in response.
"Come to think of it, where's Chiho got to?"
"Over there."
He pointed, and there, near Shinobazu Pond in the temple garden, stood an Octopus-folk priestess swinging her staff.
True to her Octopus-folk blood, she had reddish skin, and stood so short, no taller than a child, that the staff in her hands looked almost oversized.
Her hair ran in vertical stripes of white, teal, and violet, all gathered up in a bun to one side.
At a glance she might have passed for a child playing with a staff, but her face was sultry enough to make it clear she was simply a small adult.
She was chanting a sutra toward Shinobazu Pond when......
"...........Rapid Thunder Vow!"
KRRRAKKKLE!!!!!
A tremendous bolt of lightning struck the pond!
Bob... bob... bob......
Fish and Kuzuyo alike floated to the surface.
It seemed she'd been clearing out the Kuzuyo lurking underwater.
The priestess came trotting over, and the moment she caught sight of Yasutaka, her face split into a smug, bratty grin.
"Oh, look who's still around, weakling~"
"Same as ever, huh! You bratty little girl, Chiho!"
Yasutaka let out a wry laugh at her words.
Her name was Chiho the Striped Octopus, a priestess who worked mostly in partnership with Shinnosuke.
Now, in this world, a priest is something like a sage who doubles as both wizard and monk, so keep that in mind as we go along.
Chiho kept that smug little smirk plastered on her face and cackled.
"What, you're still out here clearing Kuzuyo? You pathetic weakling~"
"Shut up! You're doing the exact same thing!"
Chiho's face flushed red at Yasutaka's irritated retort.
"I am Chiho the Striped Octopus! Don't call me a bratty girl, loser!"
"That right there is exactly what makes you a bratty little girl!"
"Now, now......"
Shinnosuke stepped in to mediate, steering the conversation elsewhere by turning to Yasutaka.
"Anyway, forget that, you're here clearing Kuzuyo too, right? Still... there sure are a lot of them. A hundred's probably not going to cut it."
"Yeah. With this many around, there's a good chance a Nue's already shown up somewhere."
"Already took down a few, actually. A fish-and-turtle Nue, and a bird-man Nue."
"Seriously? That's pretty bad."
"Leaving a ruin standing like this is dangerous. Someone ought to tear it down soon."
Now, a Nue starts out weak enough, but given time it grows tougher, more seasoned, harder to kill.
Leave one long enough, and it becomes nigh unkillable, splitting apart to multiply until the whole mess spirals out of hand.
"With Kuzuyo already overflowing in the area like this, it's dangerous if we don't clear them out soon. We'd better report it to the magistrate's office."
"Guess so."
Shinnosuke gave a light stretch to reset his mood.
"Well then, I'll knock out a few more before I head back."
"We'll do the same. It's too dangerous to leave as is."
"See ya, weakling~"
"That goes for you too!"
With that, Yasutaka parted ways with the pair.
He and Mōha carried on with the clean-up, hunting Kuzuyo well into the day............