Chapter 27: Mingao Village
Darkness.
A dense, suffocating darkness where one could not even see the fingers of their own hand. From somewhere in that void came faint, miserable cries, rising and falling like ghosts drifting through a graveyard.
Fear crept across Ogiso Setsuna's face. Her small hand clutched tightly at the corner of Gin Tsumugi's clothes, as though that was the only thing keeping her from being swallowed whole by the dread pressing in from every side.
"This chaotic aura..."
Gin followed closely behind the talisman gliding ahead of them through the passage. While keeping pace, he carefully sensed the countless energies tangled together in the darkness. There was the yin aura of Yokai, naturally, but mixed in with it was the lingering presence of Onmyodo as well.
And deeper still—
He detected a certain special aura that felt strangely familiar.
The look in his eyes sharpened.
Things were unfolding more and more like he had imagined.
At that moment, the guiding talisman slowed.
Gin immediately understood.
They were close.
After quietly giving Setsuna another warning, he raised his vigilance to the highest level.
The enemy awaiting them was not something that could be compared to the Yokai he had dealt with before. More importantly, they were about to step into the opponent's Domain. Fighting on someone else's ground was never an advantage. He had to be prepared for anything.
"We're here."
A light appeared ahead.
It pierced through the darkness, and the chaotic aura gathering around it had already thickened to an astonishing degree.
Setsuna stiffened. Before she fully realized it, the weightlessness beneath her feet vanished and solid ground returned.
"We're here...?"
She slowly opened her eyes.
The endless darkness was gone.
In its place was a village.
It looked ancient, eerily ancient, as though it had been abandoned by time itself. The houses were all single-story wooden buildings, with only the occasional two-story structure standing out. There were no traces of modern construction, no electric poles, no asphalt roads, no sign of the present age at all. A rough fence encircled the entire village, shutting it off from the outside world like a forgotten grave.
Beneath the red glow of dusk and the fading afterlight of twilight, the whole village looked quietly wrong.
Setsuna's face immediately turned pale.
"This village...!"
There was no mistaking it.
This was the exact same village that had appeared over and over in her nightmares.
"It seems we've arrived at the right place."
Gin scanned the surroundings without lowering his guard.
So Setsuna's nightmares, and those of the others marked by the Wedding Dress Tree, had really been happening inside this Domain all along.
He lifted his gaze toward the sky.
A black crack split the heavens above them, though it was already beginning to mend itself, closing little by little. That was the very tear they had descended through just moments ago.
A faint look of relief crossed Gin's face.
This, too, confirmed one of his earlier guesses.
He turned to Setsuna.
"Do you still remember where the Wedding Dress Tree stood in your dream?"
Setsuna nodded quickly and pointed toward the northeast side of the village.
"It was over there. I'm sure of it."
These past few nights, that nightmare had been seared into her mind so deeply that even the smallest details of this eerie village had become unforgettable. The location of the Wedding Dress Tree, which always appeared at the end of the dream, was even clearer in her memory.
But as she stared in that direction now, her confusion grew.
"There's nothing there..."
The place where the tree should have been was empty.
Gin did not seem bothered.
"Since this is its Domain, hiding itself isn't difficult." His voice remained calm. "As long as we stay here long enough, it will show itself sooner or later."
Suddenly, he paused.
His gaze shifted to the left.
Setsuna noticed the subtle change in his expression and was just about to ask what was wrong when an old, hoarse voice rang out beside them.
"Two strange guests... welcome to Mingao Village."
A bent old man had appeared before them without a sound.
Setsuna's blood ran cold.
The moment she saw him clearly, she hurriedly retreated a few steps and hid behind Gin, lowering her voice to a frightened whisper.
"Gin... that old man... he's one of the villagers who always appeared in my nightmares."
Gin acted as if he had heard nothing at all.
Instead, he stepped forward with a polite smile and said, "Old sir, we're just travelers who lost our way. Might we trouble your village for a place to stay tonight?"
The old man did not answer immediately.
His cloudy eyes moved past Gin and fixed directly on Setsuna, lingering on her in an eerie, silent stare. Only after Gin shifted slightly and blocked that line of sight did the old man speak again.
"Follow me."
Setsuna's fingers tightened around Gin's sleeve.
"Gin..."
"It's fine," he said quietly. "Come on."
Then he took her cold hand and followed behind the old man at an unhurried pace.
As they moved deeper into the village, the silence grew heavier.
There were no barking dogs. No voices. No clatter of dishes. No sign of ordinary life.
The only sounds were the footsteps of the old man ahead, and those of Gin and Setsuna behind him.
It looked like a dead village.
And yet, from within the tightly shut wooden houses lining both sides of the road, Setsuna could clearly feel something watching them. Malicious. Silent. Patient.
That sensation made her body tremble involuntarily, and without realizing it, she moved even closer to Gin.
A moment later, the old man stopped in front of a run-down wooden hut.
"This is where the two of you will stay."
He pushed open the door.
A stale gust of air blew out at once, carrying dust and the faint sour stench of rot. It was obvious that no one had lived here in a very long time.
Then the old man spoke again, his voice dry and lifeless.
"Mingao Village has one rule."
He turned his head slightly.
"At night, do not go outside."
After saying that, he turned and left without another word.
The instant his figure vanished, the door shut on its own with a strange, unnatural thud, as though pushed by an invisible hand.
Setsuna's face had already turned white.
"Gin... that old man just now...?"
She lowered her voice instinctively, staring at the tightly shut door as if something might crawl through it at any second.
Gin glanced once at the door, then said flatly,
"Just a Ghost Servant."
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]