The medicine Cyr brought back from the Hunter World worked wonders on the bodies of the noble ladies in ancient Heian-kyō.
After all, those who often take medicine develop resistance to it, but for first-time users, the effects are always pronounced.
Just an hour later, the two had recovered from their fevers and regained consciousness.
They were staying in an unused room within the shrine. If the shrine lacked anything, empty rooms certainly weren't one of them.
A maid knelt nearby to serve them. She was originally sent by the Fujiwara family to attend to Cyr, but had never gotten the chance to approach him.
Every time she tried to come forward and offer her help, she would be coldly scolded by the blond man beside him and ordered to step back—as if he feared she'd steal his duties.
Only after the two noble girls fell ill did she finally have something to do. After all, it wouldn't be appropriate for a man to tend to pure noble ladies.
And this task? No one else really wanted it.
She wasn't the only maid sent—many other families had also dispatched attendants. Yet although these two noble girls were of Fujiwara blood, their family names had been stripped upon entering the shrine.
In terms of status, they weren't much different from the maids themselves. They too lived at the mercy of the lord, kneeling and greeting him with the same deference.
Rather than care for two frail girls, many of the maids had another goal in mind—to charm the rumored demigod from Takamagahara.
That was the true mission their families had given them.
Of course, the order came with little pressure: do your best, but no need to force it.
Still, some of them dreamed of becoming the wife of a god.
"The princesses are finally awake. As expected, the medicine His Highness provided was no ordinary thing," the maid said gently and respectfully as she looked upon the two girls who were slowly coming to.
Every one of her gestures seemed carefully trained—her waist supple, and her bow graceful, revealing an elegant posture.
"…" Noriko and Rinko recalled what had happened before they lost consciousness, and their faces turned pale.
They had passed out during training!
They had even wasted His Highness's precious medicine!
"N-Noriko… what should we do…" Rinko's face went white, her tone filled with panic, a trembling whisper of helplessness.
"…Did His Highness say anything?" Noriko grasped Rinko's hand and forced a smile as she asked the maid.
"His Highness only said training would resume the day after tomorrow. You're to take the medicine once a day…" the maid replied in a soft voice.
"…" The two girls seemed to let out a breath of relief.
"Thank you for letting us know." Noriko smiled at her.
Had they been at home, she would have taken something out to reward the girl. But now, they were both empty-handed.
They hadn't even brought a single ornament with them when they came.
"…" The maid respectfully lowered her head, collected the tray, and backed out of the room on her knees.
"That's such a relief, Noriko… His Highness didn't just toss us out," Rinko said, her voice filled with joy and gratitude—but then noticed that her sister didn't look quite right.
"Noriko? What's wrong? Aren't you happy?" she asked carefully, observing her sister's expression.
Even twins were never exactly the same.
Noriko was always the smarter one, her body hardier too.
If… if only one of them could remain…
It would surely be Noriko.
Rinko recalled how, one year ago, she and Noriko had snuck out of the women's quarters hand in hand into the front courtyard, and overheard their father speaking with someone in serious discussion—
"Noriko and Rinko… what should we do with the two of them?"
"If they grow up to be beautiful, then let both stay. If they turn out plain, keep one and send the other away."
Standing outside the door, the two girls widened their eyes in fear and instinctively covered their mouths to prevent any sound from escaping.
Afterward, they carefully retraced their steps back to their quarters.
Since that day, the once kind and respectable faces of their family seemed distorted and hazy, like mist—no longer clearly visible.
"Yes, I'm happy," Noriko shook her head and smiled, trying to offer reassurance.
"Rinko, we have to work even harder now—to prove our worth." Her eyes were filled with worry as she spoke.
That lord… he didn't seem like a bad person, but there was something deeply unsettling about him.
He didn't strike her as the type to tolerate people lazing around idly for long.
---
Two days later, in the open grounds in front of the shrine...
The twin sisters stood side by side, and opposite them were two pups.
They were about as long and tall as the girls themselves—clearly still young. Covered in snowy white fur, they looked a little like Samoyeds, or perhaps Shiba Inus.
But they were neither.
They were dog demons—Inuyōkai.
Their faces and foreheads were marked with demonic patterns, some purple, some red.
Cyr crouched nearby, gazing at the two dog demons. The more he looked, the more familiar they seemed...
He felt like he'd seen them before.
"Where did you capture Inuyōkai pups?" Gojo Haru asked, eyes filled with curiosity as he stared at the two little ones.
They weren't ordinary pups.
"Ask that guy." Cyr casually pointed toward the large tiger pretending to be completely uninvolved.
As if it hadn't proudly dragged back two wailing pups earlier that morning and dropped them in front of Cyr like an offering.
"I just told Sora to bring back two puppies, and this idiot returns with two dog demons," Cyr said, rubbing his forehead, speechless.
He really had only asked the big dumb tiger to find two normal dogs. Instead, it brought back two literal demon pups.
"…They smell like dogs," Sora sniffed them thoroughly and replied seriously.
No matter how many times he sniffed, they still smelled like dogs.
"Inuyōkai are dogs," Gojo Haru agreed.
Though the yōkai part was equally important.
"You can't smell demonic energy, huh…" Cyr said with a complicated expression.
Well, different power systems. Sora was a magical beast—it wasn't surprising he couldn't sense yōki.
Whatever. Dog demons were dog demons. These two looked weak anyway. Probably couldn't even take human form or use yōkai abilities… right?
"The Inuyōkai clan probably won't just sit back and ignore this," Gojo Haru warned.
You really think you can steal kids from their clan and expect no one to notice? With a dog's sense of smell?
It wouldn't be long before the Inuyōkai clan came knocking.
"Maybe they'll send a proper mountain guardian dog to retrieve them? That would be perfect. No one's teaching these pups anyway—having an adult come would be ideal," Cyr said, full of excitement.
"That's exactly the kind of thinking I expect from you," Gojo Haru sighed for the Inuyōkai's sake—then found himself quietly looking forward to it, too.
Meanwhile, the group assigned to study the barrier was still bickering in the corner. Arguments over conflicting opinions were common, and in their obsession to create a barrier that met Cyr's standards, some hadn't even slept.
"Woof! Woof!" The two little demons clearly couldn't speak human language yet.
"Those two… they're our opponents?" Noriko and Rinko looked at the small dogs, their faces filled with confusion.
Though perhaps they weren't that ordinary.
The pups were quite beautiful, which in itself made them stand out.
°°°
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