Chapter 107: The Priestess Of The Land Of Demons’ Prophetic Dream【subscribe】
Miroku slowly rose from the bed and walked to the desk, lighting a candle.
The flickering candlelight dispelled the darkness in the room, illuminating her weary face.
“Was that dream just now… a new prophecy?” Miroku, wearing only a thin gauze garment, sat down at the desk, her slender fingers resting on her forehead. The faint glow of the candlelight highlighted her graceful figure, but it could not dispel the worry etched between her brows.
Those purple eyes were filled with anxiety about the future.
As a member of the Miko Clan, Miroku had inherited the power of the miko from childhood, and prophesying the future was one of its important abilities.
The prophecies made by mikos generally came true, so in the Land of Demons, which had no daimyo, the miko held very high status, not only as objects of worship by the people but also as the nominal national ruler of the Land of Demons.
In recent years, Miroku had felt that the sealed Mōryō seemed increasingly restless, and a bad premonition had faintly risen in her heart.
So she was also making preparations. If the Mōryō showed any sign of breaking free from the seal, Miroku would not hesitate to seal it at the cost of her own life.
That way, she could buy time for her daughter Shion to grow up.
At this thought, Miroku, with her hand on her forehead, slightly turned her head, her gaze tenderly falling on little Shion sleeping soundly on the bed.
The miko’s prophetic abilities were basically related to themselves, but in that dream, Miroku had seen herself together with her daughter, and the darkness that enveloped the Ninja World was completely different from the Mōryō she had foreseen in previous dreams, without any of the Mōryō’s aura.
This was at least good news, indicating that in the prophesied future, the monster Mōryō had not broken through the seal, and she could accompany her daughter as she grew up.
The miko’s power was passed down through generations, and after her daughter was born, Miroku’s power would gradually be inherited by her daughter, so Miroku had long prepared for the worst scenario.
But now she had seen another completely different prophecy!
“But what exactly is this darkness that could plunge the entire Ninja World into it?” Miroku frowned deeply, recalling the dreams in which she had previously prophesied about the Mōryō; none had ever shown such a terrifying scene.
“And that shadow… was it he who saved the Ninja World?” Miroku closed her eyes in contemplation, trying hard to recall the details of the dream just now.
Endless darkness enveloped the Ninja World, a ray of dawn light broke through this long night, bringing light and hope to the Ninja World, and within that ray of dawn light, a human figure stood tall in the sky above.
What exactly did this dream mean?
Miroku tried hard to see what characteristics the human figure that brought light to the Ninja World had.
Vaguely, a star streaked through the night and fell before her.
Miroku suddenly opened her eyes.
“A star?” She quickly got up and rummaged through the books nearby.
She soon found a map of the Ninja World and located the Land of Bears bordering the Land of Demons. There, on the map of the Land of Bears, a star icon stood out prominently.
“A star…” Miroku touched the star on the map of the Land of Bears, lost in thought.
Although the Land of Demons had no ninja, it maintained good relations with surrounding countries, sharing a quarter of its borderline with the neighboring Land of Bears, and there was frequent civilian exchange between the two countries, so Miroku had naturally heard of the legends of the Land of Bears.
Legend had it that two hundred years ago, a meteorite fell within the Land of Bears. A ninja used this meteorite to comprehend a special ninjutsu and, on that basis, established Hoshigakure, proclaiming himself the First Generation Star Shadow.
Hoshigakure was also the ninja village closest to the Land of Demons.
“Is it here?” Miroku was not entirely sure, because the prophetic dream was too vague.
Moreover, last year, a drastic change occurred in the Land of Bears. It was said that Hoshigakure had launched a coup, slaughtering the daimyo and nobles of the Land of Bears, plunging the Land of Bears into chaos.
Of course, this information had come from the nobles of the Land of Demons.
Although the Land of Demons had no daimyo and the national ruler was nominally the miko, the Land of Demons also had classes, with the nobles supporting Miroku, this Lord Miko, and even taking great pleasure in it.
The miko basically did not participate in national governance, and all the power in the Land of Demons was held by these nobles.
As for the miko, in the eyes of many nobles, she was merely a tool for suppressing the monster Mōryō.
“Mama~” A soft, glutinous call came from the bed, interrupting Miroku’s thoughts.
Little Shion had woken up at some point, and upon discovering her mother was not beside her, she sat up, rubbing her sleepy eyes as she searched for her mother.
“Shion, be good, go back to sleep.” Miroku hurried to the bed and took her daughter into her arms, gently patting her back and humming a lullaby.
In the gentle song, Shion soon fell back into dreamland.
The next morning, Miroku changed into her formal miko robe and sat solemnly behind the bamboo curtain in the shrine.
Little Shion beside her was also imitating her mother, kneeling in the same posture.
Miroku summoned the priest who had served the Miko Clan for generations.
“Lord Miroku!” Priest Ashikaga was a man in his thirties, an uncle. Their clan had inherited the priests of the Shrine of the Land of Demons for generations, while also serving as the miko’s personal bodyguards responsible for protection, as well as handling the miko’s daily needs.
“Priest Ashikaga, how much do you know about the situation in the Land of Bears and Hoshigakure?” Miroku’s voice came from behind the bamboo curtain.
“The Land of Bears and Hoshigakure?” Priest Ashikaga was somewhat surprised. The Lord Miko, who usually paid no attention to outside affairs, was suddenly asking about a neighboring country.
He had been sent to the shrine from childhood to care for the Miko Clan, and even when Miroku’s mother was still alive, he had been a priest at the Shrine of the Land of Demons.
Over the past twenty years, it was rare to hear the miko proactively inquire about neighboring countries.
The last time Lord Miroku had asked seemed to be right at the outbreak of the Third Great Ninja War, when Sand Village of the Land of Wind and Stone Village of the Land of Earth clashed fiercely. Lord Miroku had worried that the flames of war might spread to the Land of Demons or affect the loosening of the monster Mōryō’s seal, so she had asked him about it.
This time?
“Lord Miroku, the rebellion in the Land of Bears happened half a year ago. It is said that the daimyo and nobles of the Land of Bears were completely slaughtered, but recently the Land of Bears has resumed production, and its trade with surrounding countries has even become more frequent, apparently due to some policy changes within the country.” As a priest of the shrine, Ashikaga had limited access to information.
But this information differed greatly from what the nobles of the Land of Demons, who came to the shrine to worship, had told Miroku.
In the mouths of those nobles, the Land of Bears had become a living hell. Not only had the ninja of Hoshigakure slaughtered the daimyo and nobles of the Land of Bears, they had not spared ordinary people either; many cities had been bloodbathed.
The Land of Earth and Land of Wind of the Five Great Nations, for certain reasons, had been unable to send troops to intervene in the Land of Bears, so they had called on surrounding countries to impose a blockade on the Land of Bears.
Faced with these two completely different accounts, Miroku decided to send someone to investigate personally: “Priest Ashikaga, send someone to visit the Land of Bears under the pretext of diplomacy. I want to know the real situation there.”
