Mob Yandere

[Part 3/4]

Murasaki received the paper and spread it out, deducing its contents. Most likely copied with approval from the city mayor, it was a map that depicted the city blocks within Shiromoku's city, the surrounding mountains, and even the mountain paths.

"...? What's this about?"

Tamaki, who was looking at the map from the side, inquired about the lines and dots marked on the map. There were two types of lines: red lines that extended in all directions from a corner of the mountains and a blue line that extended straight. There were also sporadic black dots marked on the map.

"Shirowakamaru-san? What is this? Are you doodling on the map we painstakingly copied?"

"Disturbance Correction Focal Point Calculation Method."

Facing Murasaki's accusatory gaze, Shirowakamaru answered calmly.

"The essence of the technique to disrupt the search curse involves dispersing the residue of connections and spiritual energy through the land's spiritual veins in the surrounding area."

Shirowakamaru explained calmly. It was a curse of disruption developed as a countermeasure against Curse Art used for searching. The disruption caused by a Shikigami set by a certain ruffian was a curveball, but it was inefficient due to the time required for preparations. The main method of disruption was scattering the residue of one's connections and the flow of spiritual energy around using the spiritual veins.

"While it's not well-known in this country, in Nanban, there seems to be a mathematical method to counteract this disruption technique."

In the former Western Empire, mathematics had developed centered around educational cities. And due to the increasing number of fugitive witches evading pursuit with disruption techniques, the imperial government had requested the scholars of the educational cities to find an efficient method to draw them out.

Thus, the "Disturbance Correction Focal Point Calculation Method" was born, utilizing mathematical techniques.

"It involves calculating the flow of the spiritual veins, determining the base point in the target area, and then chanting the search curse every 2 hours from that point. I keep connecting the directions and narrow down the coordinates of the focal points. The formulas involve both the x-axis and y-axis... Do you understand the explanation?"

"No, not at all."

"Well, I guess that's to be expected."

With a seemingly spaced-out expression, the former boy stared at the two exorcists dressed as young samurai, who were looking like cosmic cats. She hadn't expected them to grasp it at this stage...

"...In other words, if we go to specific places at specific times every 2 hours to cast the search curse, we will eventually determine the correct location, ignoring the effects of disruption. Do you get it now?"

"Well, somehow..."

Although the logic was a bit difficult to grasp, now that she understood the method, Tamaki responded to Shirowakamaru's sharp gaze with determination.

"It's a technique from Nanban... Can we really trust this method?"

On the other hand, Murasaki had doubts. She was unsure how much she could rely on a method that was not mainstream among Fusō-kuni's exorcists, given that she didn't know about it herself.

"There's no other way to put it than to trust it. Or do you have another method in mind?"

Looking at Tamaki and Murasaki from the corner of her eye, Shirowakamaru inquired. There was some hope there. It would be unthinkable, but she wasn't the only one who had envisioned a specific method to achieve their goal within such a short timeframe, right?

"Hehe, well... In that case, if we try our best..."

"My brother said, 'Where there's a will, there's a way.'"

"That's just talking about determination."

Useless... the two sword users shrunk back under that kind of gaze. It couldn't be helped. They had been ordered this task in the middle of the night half a day ago, and neither Tamaki nor Murasaki had any knowledge or time to come up with a solid plan. If anything, they should be praising Shirowakamaru for having come up with a solution within this short period.

"I'm sorry? I mean, it's about me, and yet..."

"...If you have time to complain, help me out. Look at the map."

Apologizing with a truly bitter expression, Tamaki followed Shirowakamaru's irritated tone as she gave them instructions. It was pointless to resist; rather, it was an overlay of embarrassment. Tamaki obediently looked at the map spread out by Murasaki.

"The blue line is the line I drew during the night. It's drawn in the direction I derived from the focal point influenced by the active spiritual veins during the night. What we're going to do now is the remaining black dots. These are the places influenced by the active spiritual veins during the daytime, where we will cast the search curse."

"So, the remaining dots... There are ten of them?"

"And we have to go all the way around the city...?"

Facing the uncertain future, Tamaki and the others wore troubled expressions. It would be somewhat doubtful if they could finish this within the day. If there were any complications, they might not be able to complete it while the sun was still up.

"But still, it's better than doing nothing, right?"

"...Certainly, we have no choice. Tamaki-san, brace yourself."

"... Yeah. That's right. Shirowakamaru-kun has worked hard until now. Let's see it through to the end!"

"That's the spirit. Our family motto is 'Hit it and break through.' Once we've made a decision, let's break through with that determination!"

In response to Tamaki's resolute reply, Murasaki also nodded proudly. She seemed satisfied with her junior disciple's determination. Once again, she looked down at the map.

"Now then, let's find the first coordinates we need to investigate..."

Murasaki searched the map for the nearest black dot. Once she found it, she confirmed where that point was located.

"..."

"..."

"...Hey, you just said 'Hit it and break through' earlier, right?"

Facing the space cat-like gaze of her former boy once again, Murasaki averted her eyes awkwardly and muttered.

* * *

Tamaki couldn't help but think that the reason Shirowakamaru had left this particular point was that it was difficult to get to.

The first point, the Tea house in Shiromoku city, had been costly to enter, and it was quite challenging to deflect the advances of a young boy who saw Shirowakamaru as female customers.

But that wasn't all. The next point was a slaughterhouse, followed by a lodging house for unfamiliar male laborers. The third point was within a temple and shrine built in a women-restricted mountain area. Tamaki felt uneasy about when she might be noticed by the muscular monks.

And the next one is the sewage pit outside the town, where waste gathered and unpleasant. In places blessed by the flow of spiritual veins like Hotoya Village, they didn't use fertilizer; the harvest was abundant without it. In areas with thin spiritual veins or those completely unaffected by them, fertilizers were used, but they were mostly byproducts from discarded waste generated by fishing and farming, like fish meal or even lees.

Fertilizer made from waste like feces and urine was considered the lowest class in Fusō-kuni and was sold mainly to poor communities. While it was cheap, Shiromoku's city had a large population; with many people, even a small profit could accumulate. If they could get rid of waste for free, they would be willing to accept it. However, perhaps due to the sense of impurity, the residents of the city kept their distance from the workers, and the workers were also cautious of outsiders.

"Ugh... Does the smell still linger?"

After a discreet investigation, enduring the terrible odor, Tamaki returned to the city and rested in the Tea house. She repeatedly sniffed her clothes as if to confirm her own smell. Feeling dizzy and on the brink of passing out, Shirowakamaru had cast curse for wind protection and ventilation to improve the air around them, even slightly. Thankfully, the smell didn't stick to their clothes.

...However, the three of them had suffered from severe nausea multiple times.

"Miss Samurai, here's your tea."

"Huh? Oh, yeah... Thank you."

Accepting the tea cup filled with green tea from the signboard girl of the Tea house who approached from the side, Tamaki forced a smile and thanked her.

"Is that all you'll be ordering?"

"Yeah, uh-huh. Haha, I might add more later though..."

"Of course, that would make me happy."

After ordering only cheap tea, the signboard girl muttered a complaint mixed with frustration and turned on her heels to disappear into the back of the shop. Seeing her behavior, Tamaki could only manage a wry smile.

After finishing their investigation in the sewage pit, Tamaki and the others had headed to a Tea house facing the main street of the entertainment district. They craved the scent and taste of tea to recover from the nausea and low spirits. However, as things stood, the remaining two had gone straight to the restroom before the tea arrived.

"Phew..."

Sighing heavily, Tamaki sniffed the green tea that had been brought to her. It had a refreshing and slightly bitter fragrance. Taking a sip, the pleasantly warm bitterness spread in her mouth. She felt like the nausea she had been experiencing from deep within her stomach was subsiding.

"...There are four more focal points to go."

After sipping her tea a couple of times, Tamaki finally calmed down. She spread out the map and murmured about their current situation. Shirowakamaru had pointed out ten focal points, and they had already finished visiting more than half of them. A blue line was drawn over the places they had visited, passing through most of them. Every location had been quite terrible.

"Only four left..."

Tamaki sighed as she mulled over the remaining places. She wasn't optimistic about the remaining locations at this point. She felt like she was going to become more and more gloomy.

"The time is... probably around eight in the evening?"

Coincidentally, it was snack time. Being in the Tea house at this moment felt like fate. The problem was whether they could finish visiting the remaining places by sundown. They didn't have time to leisurely enjoy snacks.

"I wish we could start moving right away..."

She felt impatient, but at the same time, she realized that acting on her own wouldn't make much sense. Especially without Shirowakamaru, who was essential for adjusting the curse art. Sometimes it's better to take a roundabout route; rushing in without thinking, without considering the consequences, won't lead to good results. If the direction of one's efforts is wrong, no matter how hard you work, it will be in vain.

In fact, when both Shirowakamaru and Murasaki were leaving the restroom, they had told Tamaki to rest while she could. Even machines break down if not maintained, let alone humans. Tamaki understood that the seemingly leisurely time was necessary for her well-being.

"...But maybe I should do something to help?"

She summoned a Tea house girl over and ordered skewered dumplings to take away. She intended to eat them as a snack while on the move. After placing the order, she looked around to see if the other two had returned.

Then, her gaze intersected with a man walking down the street.

"Oh!"

"Well, what a coincidence. Are you taking a break here, too, milady?"

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