"I am still here!" "Kotoba dake ja tsutawaranai mono o The things you can't get across with just words" "Ichiban tsutaetai no wa naze?" "Why do you want to get those things across the most?" "Kutsuzoko o suriherashite Wearing down the soles of your shoes" "Hadashi demo tomarenai no wa naze?" "Why can't you stop, even when you're down to your bare feet?" "Kaban no naka ni hoshizora The starry sky is in your bag" "Arashi no yoru mo soko ni aru The stormy nights are in there too" "Soro-soro tabi ni dero It's about time you go on a journey" "Robou ni saku hana yo hana yo The flowers, the flowers that bloom by the wayside" "Goro-goro doro-darake Rolling around, covered in mud" "Mune o kogasu yoake yoake The dawn, the dawn that consumes your heart" "Soro-soro hashiri-dase It's about time you start running" "Kowareru made asobe asobe Play, play until you break down" "Odorou yo doro-darake Let's dance, covered in mud" "Mune o kogasu yoake yoake The dawn, the dawn that consumes your heart" "Chapter Twenty-Three I nba Swa mp Construction Along the Old Canal" "Shimousa Province Inba Swamp Construction Site Tenpo Year 1 4 - 1 6th of the 8th Month (September 9, 1 843 A.D.)" "Damn it!" "What is it now?" "!" "It showed up again!" "The black goblin!" "A monster!" "It appeared out of the swamp!" "Redo the survey!" "But..." "We must successfully complete this construction project, without fail!" "Or Lord Torii will be..." "Pop!" "Everybody!" "The black goblin showed up!" "I'm going to head for Edo!" "I'll spread the stories of the black goblin even more!" "Once we do that, even the Shogun will surely turn his attention to Inba Swamp." "This hell..." "This useless construction project..." "He will surely put a stop to it." "So..." "Not again..." "Those damned toads." "They grate on my ears." "A monster..." "The black goblin..." "Damn it..." "Same Day" " Edo Castle" "Same Day" " Edo Castle Lord Mizuno does some terrible things." "Meaning?" "The construction of the canal from Inba Swamp to Edo Bay is a hard task." "According to the estimate I saw the other day," "Assuming 1 ryo = 100,000 yen, the construction cost is approximately 30,000,000,000 yen." "According to the estimate I saw the other day," "Assuming 1 ryo = 1 00,000 yen, the construction cost is approximately 30,000,000,000 yen." "it says it will cost 300,000 ryo to complete." "Assuming 1 ryo = 1 00,000 yen, the construction cost is approximately 30,000,000,000 yen." "Lord Mizuno is doing this out of concern for the country." "Lord Mizuno is doing this out of concern for the country." "I will happily head for the Inba Swamp construction site to direct it." "My elder brother, Mizuno of Echizen, has apparently kept you with the Municipal Magistrate, but also appointed you as a Finance Magistrate handling the budget." "You have become my equal now, as it were." "If the Inba Swamp construction ends in failure, you will be held responsible for it." "Is it worth it for you to go so far to serve the Lord Mizuno?" "Then what do you suggest I do?" "There is a good method that would not require a trip to Inba Swamp." "Instead... the Land Requisition Order, is it?" "Yes." "My brother is currently advocating the Land Requisition Order that will make the land surrounding Edo and Osaka for ten leagues in all directions the territory of the Shogunate." "State to the Shogun just how unreasonable that proposal is." "Once you do that, my brother will lose his standing..." "Small-minded..." "So small-minded!" "Doi of Ooi!" "Atobe of Noto!" "Abe of Ise!" "Hatred for Lord Mizuno..." "Petty lust for power..." "I go to Inba Swamp, not because I have been ordered to by anyone, but for the sake of this country!" "Um, pardon me..." "Excuse me!" "I..." "A circular..." "Someone..." "Sorry." "What's wrong?" "First time in Edo?" "Yes, I've come from Shimousa." "Um..." "Would you happen to know of a circular printer?" "Circular..." "You're talking about a news peddler." "Yes!" "There's something I'd like to have printed..." "Hey, I can't ignore what you just said." "Circulars..." "Those things are an act of defiance against the Shogun!" "That's probably why every news peddler keeps his face hidden, but what are you planning to ask them to do?" "Well?" "!" "You're coming down to the local station!" "It's such an ugly thing..." "bullying the weak." "Why, you!" "Give that back or you're going to be sorry!" "Where'd my jitte go?" "If you think you're quick enough to escape me, you've got another think..." "A pipe?" "Pouring rain, mud, no rest..." "And disease on top of it, eh?" "I heard the construction at Inba Swamp was a hard task, but that sure sounds terrible." "Ow!" "We were brought together under orders from officials." "We've been forced to neglect our precious rice paddies, and even if we want to go home, being ill isn't a good enough reason." "But it's different this time." "This monster..." "You're saying a black goblin shows up, right?" "Yeah." "I saw it, too." "We all did." "It suddenly roared out of the swamp!" "The mud went flying!" "And there was lightning flashing everywhere!" "Is that true?" "It is!" "But the officials won't take us seriously!" "That's why I came to Edo!" "If we get the news out in circulars that there's a monster like this, the Shogun will surely hear of it too!" "Then that construction project will be shut down!" "You don't have to go to such trouble." "You just need to slay the Youi." "What?" "This apprentice courtesan's got a fancy man who's an expert on them." "An expert in slaying monsters." "A fancy man?" "Please, take me to this man!" "Please help us..." "Please help my pop and our friends!" "The black goblin of Inba Swamp?" "You had better be taking us along this time." "I consulted my superiors with regards to making a trip out to Inba Swamp." "Then let us get right to it." "But the Ayashi will not involve themselves." "What?" "We will not!" "A Youi appears at Inba Swamp, does it?" "What of it?" "The Inba Swamp canal construction is a great task currently being undertaken by the Shogunate!" "If there is a Youi impeding that..." "Let it be." "The Inba Swamp construction is of importance only to Mizuno and Torii." "If they should fail, they will have thrown money down the drain... no, into the swamp, and even the Shogun will not overlook that." "Then, you are telling me to ignore the Youi in order to put Lord Torii in a difficult position?" "Hozaburo Ogasawara, what is it that you desire?" "Is it to wipe out the Youi?" "It is not." "Youi have existed since the beginning of this world." "There will be no end to them." "You wanted to apply Western learning to the task of slaying Youi, so that the oppression of barbarian knowledge would be reversed." "If Mizuno and Torii fall from grace, you will see that come to pass." "What is that?" "!" "So the enemy of my enemy is my friend." "Boss, but..." "That is the end of this discussion." "With regards to the Youi at Inba Swamp, we do not even know if it exists to begin with!" ""Help us."" "A kid came crying and begging for help." "Youi come from the Other World, so that the Other World might lead people astray." "Therefore, we slay them." "That is what Ayashi do." "Ryudo..." "Am I wrong?" "Can we ask you to at least take care of our travel expenses?" "Saizo, you stay behind." "Why?" "Stay by Lord Ogasawara's side." "What?" "Uh..." "Stay by his side?" "What does he mean by that?" "You're a damn retainer!" "Tenpo Y ear 1 4 4th day of the 9th month Shimousa Province" " Inba Swamp Construction River Mouth" "What kind of folk are they?" "Is it all right for a samurai's son to leave Edo on a whim?" "I'm Kano's disciple." "A petition for a sketching trip, and I have my permission." "How high and mighty you sound." "Don't give me that horse crap." "Well, we do have a horse here, but where is the crap?" "I feel it again." "What's wrong?" "Me too, Yukiatsu." "The aura you sensed in Nikko?" "That's it over there!" "Our construction shacks." "Everyone will be at the construction site at this hour." "Pop!" "Everybody!" "Hey, we can worry about your family later." "More importantly..." "Yes, where can we find this black goblin?" "That's..." "Pop!" "Everybody!" "They're not here..." "Tasaku..." "Perhaps they have recovered and gone back to work." "Tasaku..." "Perhaps they have recovered and gone back to work." "That isn't possible!" "They were all so ill, they couldn't even stand." "This is terrible..." "Leaving sick people in a place like this..." "Dysentery..." "In a drafty place like this, they'd never get better." "It's possible they're dead and buried." "Please!" "Help everyone!" "I know." "We'll help them." "What is it, Edogen?" "No, it's nothing." "Those are Lord Taira no Chiyomaru's talismans." "Taira no Chiyomaru?" "A traveling ascetic." "He gave those to us to help with the illness." "But after that..." "They call this area a bog." "No matter how much we dig, we keep striking more water." "This mud is terrible." "Everybody!" "Everybody!" "Hey!" "Hey, where's Edogen?" "Genbatsu..." "Lord Akamatsu?" "!" "Tasaku, these guys..." "Yukiatsu, those are Youi." "Pop!" "Everybody!" "They're toads!" "Those are your friends?" "I told you, didn't I?" "Something became wrong with all of them after we received the talismans." "What have you come here for, Ayashi?" "!" "We heard that you were working hard on the Inba Swamp construction!" "Some Youi called a black goblin shows up, right?" "There is no such thing!" "I thought as much." "What does this mean?" "They cooked up this story about a monster." "To slow down the work." "And if this construction got canceled, they could go home." "Yeah, that's right." "It was a lie to start with." "But Pop and the others really turned into monsters." "So, I thought you people might be able to turn them back to the way they were." "Come on, Yukiatsu!" "Do something for them!" "The black goblin may have been a lie, but there really were Youi!" "Now, move aside!" "Why will you not leave this to us?" "!" "Those things are a melding of humans and Youi." "Inside, they are human." "Move aside!" "Now, Yukiatsu!" "Yukiatsu!" "A melding of humans and Youi?" "How can they be separated?" "!" "If you are human, heed my words!" "Wait!" "Wait now!" "Calm down and listen to me!" "What is it that turned you guys into Youi?" "!" "If I can find that..." "What's that?" "Pop and the others are saying that they're sick of this place." "That they want to go somewhere pleasant, somewhere else, where there's no mud or disease." "The Other World..." "These guys are trying to open the Other World!" "Kumoshichi!" "Quickly!" "He flew?" ""Stop the construction at Inba Swamp."" "Is that what you mean by this?" "The character for "road" comes from a magical ritual that involved lining the road with the heads of enemy soldiers." "An Ayagami user..." "You are the Western Ones, correct?" "Is Taira no Chiyomaru the Lord Akamatsu?" "Those were distributed by Lord Iwami." "In order to awaken a new serpent head." "Serpent head?" "That's right." "Stop the construction!" "Everyone is suffering from the disease!" "No, I cannot stop it." "If the Inba Swamp becomes flooded, the entire Tonegawa River region will be submerged." "Many rice paddies will be ruined, and the cargo that comes by way of the Tonegawa River will no longer reach Edo." "This construction will save the people from such a disaster." "You're lying!" "It's not a lie." "Also, once this canal is completed, even if Edo Bay should be blockaded by a foreign fleet, the people of Edo will be saved from starvation." "It is an official's duty to think of how to protect against foreign countries." "You make it sound as if you are in the right!" "Yes, Torii is in the right." "He may always be bullying the people, forcing them to be frugal, but even so, what he is saying right now is correct." "Indeed, it is!" "And those who have become Youi are the evil hindering the construction project!" "Hey, Ryudo..." "It's the Other World." "It's the scene I saw once." "You must not open the Other World!" "Yukiatsu, cut him down!" "The Youi are not to blame." "They had no choice!" "Right now, the Other World comes first!" "Stop this!" "Yukiatsu!" "What would be the point in going to the Other World?" "!" "Weren't you going to go back to your homes?" "!" "Yukiatsu, use your dragon horn." "Toads are weak against serpents." "I suppose dragons and serpents are similar enough." "Did it work?" "!" "Oh-ho..." "Yukiatsu Ryudo..." "I had no idea you were prepared to go to such lengths." "Pop!" "Pop!" "Pop!" "They're all dead." "They had only managed to survive with the power of those talismans." "Without the power of those talismans... of Youi, they can no longer stay alive." "Yukiatsu..." "Even after seeing this, was Torii still not in the wrong?" "Is it so bad to seek out the Other World?" "Answer me, Yukiatsu." "You said you would help them!" "Stop it!" "There are countless questions in this world that have no answers." "There was no helping it..." "Yukiatsu!" "Frog" "Tasaku..." "You fool!" "What have you done?" "!" "Torii, you bastard!" "Should you not blame the one who was passing out those talismans?" "Ouma?" "!" "What do you think you're doing?" "!" "Ouma!" "Why do people die?" "Why do they suffer?" "What meaning is there in this world?" "Come back!" "Atl!" "What is this?" "Atl..." "Mado no soto no sora o mitara Outside my window, looking at the sky" "Kumo ga haato no katachi ni mieta yo The clouds looked like they were in the shape of a heart" "Iki o ookiku suikome ba If you take in a deep breath" "Kokoro ga ookiku natta ki ga suru ne It makes you feel like your heart's grown bigger, doesn't it?" "Ai to wa nanika?" "What is love?" "Nante kono toshi ja wakaru wake nai kedo There's no way I'd know that at my age" "Itsu no hi ka wakaru toki ga kuru no kana I wonder if there'll come a day when I do know" "Mado kara mieru ki no eda mo ha mo Outside my window, I can see tree branches and leaves" "Mainichi mainichi nobite-iru yo And they grow every day, day after day" "Kore kara mo nobite-iku yo ne They'll continue to grow from now on too, won't they?" "Konna toki ni wa konna uta ga niau At times like this, a song like this is just the thing" "Jibun no ima omou kimochi o kuchizusame Sing whatever you're feeling right now" "Aishite-iru to iu suteki ni hibiku kotoba ga The words "I love you" have such a wonderful ring to them" "Mirai ni iru jibun o kitto ima no nanbai mo ookiku Surely they'll make my future self many times greater" "Yasashiku sasete kureru no kamo shirenai Maybe many times kinder than I am today" "Preview" "Yukiatsu said that people must live on here." "I thought I would be able to find a reason to do that." "But there is nothing to find anymore." "Next Time Chapter Twenty" " Four Fa ntasy of the Latter Southern Court"