I Became the Final Subjugation Target of That Era’s Light Novel

The sewer was damp and smelled bad.

But even though it was winter and far drier than summer, that humidity could be felt on my skin.

Something about it felt… Lovecraftian. Wandering through a damp sewer in the middle of the night to catch a monster.

Well, fortunately, I didn’t have to wander around for too long.

After walking about twenty minutes or so, we found the exit we had left open in advance.

As I climbed up the ladder and crawled out of the manhole, a few burly men grabbed my arms and helped pull me up.

I knew they were trying to help. But, honestly, it was hard for gratitude to come easily when the people helping me were dressed in formal suits with broad ‘big brother’ builds.

“Alright. Then let’s get going.”

If the last one to come out, Kagami, hadn’t said that, I would have struggled to shake off my doubts about the uncles.

Nearby, there was a car that had been parked in advance.

It looked suspicious at first glance, a black van.

What was comforting, at least, was that it wasn’t one of those old, rusty vans typically seen in movies or dramas where people get kidnapped.

Seeing it was clean on the outside gave me a bit of relief; it felt like a large black van that celebrities might ride in.

Inside were Koko, Kagami, and the three of us. The car was spacious. Fortunately, no one else was sitting on the side where we were. Although there were maybe two people sitting behind us.

“Do you know where we’re headed?”

“I know how the people from your side move. It’s not that far from here.”

In the middle of Tokyo, right by the sea, there are virtually no mountains. Even if you get up to a fairly high place, all you see are the densely packed buildings of a vast plain.

However, no matter how close Tokyo is to the sea, on clear days, you can see quite tall mountains at the far reaches of the horizon. If the weather is really nice and you’re high enough, it might be possible to see a hazy silhouette of Mt. Fuji.

But Saitama is not Tokyo.

It’s a different city that neighbors that Tokyo. In other words, Saitama is directly connected to the ‘mountain range that can barely be seen in the distance.’

In reality, I had never thought about climbing those mountains, despite living in Saitama.

“…It might be a trap, you know?”

In response to my guess, Kagami nodded readily.

“That’s right. They might be trying to follow us in the opposite direction.”

Exactly. Kosuzu had been part of the social circle until relatively recently. She knew the exact location of the apartment I lived in and, of course, she would remember the escape routes below it.

After hearing the information that the government was looking for Satori, it wouldn’t be wrong to say she ‘set the stage’ to move me, someone capable of pursuing that Satori.

Kagami must have thought that risk was better to take.

“I see.”

I nodded and took a cutter knife from my pocket.

“Uuugh…”

Koko let out a gloomy sound the moment she saw the knife.

I felt a bit guilty.

Self-harming in front of others had been getting harder as time went by.

Not just because it hurts. Honestly, I had become pretty used to the pain.

However, as I got closer to the people around me, their worries for me slowly began to touch me.

Even Kagami was looking at my wrist without averting her eyes.

My wrist adorned with tattoos.

Initially, I thought Kagami was the one who had marked this. Later, when I learned about Kosuzu, I began to think she might have done it.

But upon reflection, I felt neither of them were responsible.

There was no reason to tattoo such a magic circle on my wrist. To begin with, neither of them could have ever imagined that I would live and move in the first place.

If so…

Could it be the work of Nirlas, who somehow had the ability to control my body freely?

Well, I guess that’s not the important part right now.

I took a deep breath.

To ignore the gazes of those around me, I closed my eyes.

I applied pressure to the tip of the knife, piercing deep into my skin, and dragged it along.

Pain washed over me—

“A bit upsetting, isn’t it?”

—came a teasing voice.

It’s a curious thing. Nirlas’s voice is always neat, not overly emotional, and aside from the slight interest it usually shows in me, it’s generally calm.

Or maybe that’s why it’s annoying.

I was struggling and bleeding every time, while over there, it was just enjoying the show like someone munching on popcorn.

Not that I really think popcorn exists over there.

“It’s sad how you only call for me at necessary moments like this. You might not even care about the lady.”

Well, that’s obvious.

To be honest, if there’s another way to solve this situation, I wouldn’t have bothered asking for help at all.

Why else would someone go insane digging too deeply into the cosmic existence? That’s like a rule in the Cthulhu Mythos, right?

Even the guy who blasted a hole in Cthulhu’s ship with his steamboat ended up losing his sanity.

…Thinking about it, isn’t it a bit strange to say I’m in my right mind right now? Who would go and cut their wrists just to follow someone? I’m not some minefield girl ready to die if they don’t show up.

Maybe in a way, the principle is similar.

“…You don’t care about me that much, do you?”

I know I’m just a fun little toy to play with to you.

“From what I’ve gathered, the lady caring about you isn’t something to take lightly.”

That sounded like it was just another joke.

I had no intention of replying to that.

I couldn’t move my body, and my sight was fixed in one place. However, I could still feel the gazes on me. Human sight is broader than you’d think, so even if the focus isn’t perfectly on something, you can still catch a glimpse of what’s happening around you.

Kagami, Koko, and everyone was looking at my wrist.

Koko aside, even Kagami.

“…I want something.”

“I’m listening.”

“It seems you don’t want to take anything this time?”

“There really isn’t any need.”

Nirlas replied with a smile to my question.

“I think I’ll get to see something interesting this time as well.”

“…”

See? Toy status right there.

A toy that can just be fixed if broken.

“I want to find a Yōkai named Satori.”

“Sounds good.”

Nirlas isn’t like the ‘monkey’s paw.’ Just because you make a wish doesn’t mean it twists that wish itself.

It simply grants wishes for the sake of the enjoyment that comes with it.

Moreover, it would often ask for additional conditions if it judged it couldn’t gain what it wanted.

At least, in this regard, it was a being I could trust.

“Well then, go take a look. The lady will be watching from here.”

When Nirlas says that, it’s probably because whatever followed would be something I wouldn’t want or be worried about.

…However, it’s sinister in that there’s no way for me to dodge that. Nirlas never revealed that endpoint to me.

When it could have told me the prophecy of Kudan directly, it chose not to until the end.

“I’ll need a sword.”

“…You didn’t have to say that twice.”

At my response, Nirlas smiled.

With that conversation over, time began to move again.

The stopped car started moving again, and air began to flow.

My senses felt like they were pausing and restarting, but in reality, we were in a moving vehicle, so it felt like I was defying the laws of inertia.

Thud.

A long red katana fell to the car floor.

“Kyuu?”

Then a chihaya peered out from the gap in the wound.
What? I was used to this kind of thing.

For some reason, it sparked a feeling of déjà vu.
I took a long breath and thought.

*

We arrived at the location without speeding and obeying traffic laws to avoid suspicion, and unsurprisingly, it was in the mountains.

But it was a mountain adjacent to the city. There were a few roads leading into the mountains, so we could at least drive to a place with thick trees.

Must be because it’s a monkey, I suppose.

“I see. Strictly speaking, it means I can only know the direction.”

Kagami said, looking at the hitachi in my hand.

I nodded.

“But still, we should be able to find it. We haven’t made a mistake until now.”

Yeah, if you think of it as a bad joke, I could at least suspect something.

After being guided like this, it could actually turn out the real deal is on another continent or something.

But Nirlas wouldn’t play such a trick on me. If it really was somewhere I couldn’t find, it would have said so from the start.

Our trust level had reached that point. Neither of us lied to each other.

If they just don’t talk, that’s one thing.

“…”

“Hey, isn’t it you who should believe?”

I said to Kagami, who was staring intently at the hitachi, and her gaze turned towards my face.

I had joked, but seeing Kagami’s serious face, it didn’t feel like I could continue anymore.
By the way, I had a bandage wrapped around my wrist.

I had no idea what they were using the car for, but it had enough tools inside to carry out simple surgeries. Well, it was pretty obvious the person doing the surgery wasn’t a real doctor. Maybe it was just to treat cuts gotten from the knife?

Since it wasn’t like I’d need stitches for a wound I inflicted on myself, I had thick medical gauze on my wrist, covered with bandages.

Kagami was the one who helped with that.

“…Sorry.”

“Pardon?”

Only then did Kagami blink and move at my words.

“It seems a bit inappropriate to say such things when the situation is so serious.”

“…”

“We have to find Kosuzu before anyone else. Or she might have followed us closely.”

“Nevertheless, there hasn’t been any trailing.”

One of the uncles driving our car scratched his head and said.

“There aren’t any trailing cars—”

“That’s not what I was getting at.”

Kagami gently cut off the uncle’s words.

“I’m talking about something that’s not human.”

The wraiths don’t appear in the light.

At Kagami’s words, the uncles fell silent.

The ones following us were four people. While that number might seem too small, thinking again, it would attract too much attention for a bunch of burly uncles to be roaming together or for several huge vans to gather in a group.

Besides, to be honest, these people wouldn’t be much help unless it was a strength-based situation.

I gripped the knife tightly in my right hand. Alright. Losing this much blood isn’t a big deal anymore.

As for Satori… finding her shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

Koko followed me silently. Her face was filled with worry, her eyes glancing at my wrist.

How many times have I collapsed in front of Koko?

…Honestly, I don’t even remember that well anymore.

Is it going to happen again today?

“Let’s go.”

I spoke in a firm voice, deliberately trying not to reveal my anxious feelings.

“Kyuu.”

Only Chihaya responded.

I don’t even know if that was truly a response or just a sound that followed my voice.

*

“Hah… Hah…”

I thought my stamina had increased a bit over the time, but this didn’t pay off in the mountains at all.

Besides, the place we were currently walking wasn’t even a proper road.

With the light of the uncle’s flashlights barely guiding us, we continued to press forward, slowly.

“Kyuu.”

Well, it’s obvious that we’re in a mountain like this.

I hitched a ride to avoid people.

Given that we stayed here without going out of our way means, even in the world of Yōkai, Satori probably lived a precarious life.

After barely finding peace for decades, now I was here to hunt her down. I felt a little bad about that, but… Well, as I continued climbing the mountain, such thoughts began to drift away.

At first, I could hear the uncles, who had been climbing the mountains much easier than me, beginning to breathe more roughly.

If we keep going like this, will we end up leaving them behind in the mountain?

I was a bit grateful that they had been following me in silence until now—

“Hah… Ah.”

While walking, I suddenly came to a halt.

“Uwa?”

Koko, who was following me, was the first to stop and say such.

“Did you find something?”

Kagami asked.

“…Yeah.”

I felt it.

A strange chill that pierced even through the winter’s cold.

As always, Chihaya’s guidance was precise.

It didn’t seem like it was just pointing me in the right direction like a simple compass. It felt like it was functioning as a navigation system, and since I wouldn’t always be able to accurately understand its bearings, I might have assumed it simply guided me like a compass.

Nirlas wasn’t being considerate of me… rather, it was probably drooling in anticipation of a delicious development in front of it.

If it thought I wouldn’t respond, of course, it wouldn’t bother to help me.

“But it’s still far off.”

I still wasn’t a master at this. Especially not to the point of instinctively detecting Yōkai and their nests like this.

If only Yuka was here, I might know how close we were or for what reason the energy felt weak.

Also, about why I couldn’t find it despite being in such close proximity to Tokyo.

Of course, no matter how many exorcists there are, they can’t just comb through mountains of this size.

While Kudan was an invaluable case born into this world that way, if someone saw it, all hell would break loose due to its immense significance. Satori would easily sense malice and escape; besides, anyone could see it was simply a monkey.

“… Let’s go.”

At least, I wanted to finish this before Sunday ended.

I didn’t want to get caught lying to Yuka.

So I mustered as much strength as I could to press onward.

*

“Shh. Wait a moment.”

One of the uncles following us said.

We immediately crouched down and sat. Koko was a bit late to sit down, but it wasn’t too far off.

An uncle placed his finger before his mouth and looked around.

Rustle.

Something was stepping on the ground.

…A person?

In the dead of night, in a place without even a proper road, is there a person here?

…
Well, it is possible.

This isn’t America, where there are vast areas of almost uninhabited land. This is Japan, with over a hundred million people living packed into the archipelago.

Especially since we’re in Saitama, a bit deep in the mountains.

When we crouched down, they had already turned off the flashlights.

“First, let’s move our position a bit.”

One of the uncles said.

“It wouldn’t be good if we got caught.”

It seemed like a good idea to change our spot.

I blinked to adapt my eyes to the darkness.

Slowly, we moved without making a noise.

I gripped the knife tightly.

Koko had a serious expression, ready to fight.

Kagami was—

Taking out talismans from within her clothes.

Talismans, it’s been a while since I saw those.

Now that I think about it, she used talismans when we caught Nue as well.

“There could be a vengeful spirit in the mountains. Also… we have our own know-how with this sort of situation.”

“That seems to be the case.”

I recalled the mirror Kagami had used previously and answered, making her smile slightly.

Given that she had a small bag slung at her side, she probably brought it today as well.

“Shh.”

After moving a few meters, the uncle who had been at the back stopped moving.

“…From that direction too?”

“Yeah.”

The uncles, who had been murmuring among themselves, all looked this way and spoke.

“This has become troublesome.”

“Are there many of them?”

“Yeah. It doesn’t seem like there’s just one or two. I can hear footsteps from all directions.”

The eldest uncle, who was larger than the others, said. He had a long scar on his temple, which looked faintly visible even in this dark place.

“Are they surrounding us?”

“Well, hard to say.”

The uncle hesitated for a moment. As those voices were nearly audible right in front of us, we huddled a bit closer together.

Yet it was winter, and the wind blew a bit harshly, so even if the distance increased slightly, it felt like the sound would quickly get swallowed.

The cold air made the wound on my wrist sting even more.

“I didn’t notice anyone following us.”

“…”

“What do we do? If we go any further, we’ll definitely come face to face with them. I can’t say for sure if we can help you, but…”

If the people from Yamashita came, they must have seen me fighting solitude back then.

They knew very well that there were beings which couldn’t simply be matched with the strength of an ordinary person.

Kagami looked at me silently.

Was she telling me to make the decision?

“…That’s what I thought when coming here.”

At my reply, the uncle nodded.

“Well then, let’s give it a try. If we get caught then we’ll confront them head-on.”

“…Yeah.”

It was a proposal to hide our bodies as much as possible for now.

We reached an agreement and began to move again.

I had heard that yakuza in real life weren’t as noble as movies depict, but maybe it’s because this is a light novel; the uncles didn’t seem to have any intention of betraying us.

Or perhaps these people might also be ‘believers,’ just as Yamashita had said—

“Hey!”

At that sound, we all stopped in our tracks.

We nearly lay flat on the floor and held our breaths.

Did they see us?

That tense voice sounded like they had spotted someone—

“Hey there, I know you’re there! Show your face! We didn’t come to fight—”

What to do? If we got caught, should we charge out and suppress them—

But before my thoughts could finish, a sudden chill ran down my spine.

Then.

Scrape. Splash. Thud.

No matter how many times you hear it, the unpleasant sounds struck my eardrums vividly.

“…Koko!”

“Yeah!”

At my shout, Koko sprang up from her spot.

I simultaneously leaped up and extended my left arm forward.

The sound of metal clashing and the sound of a water balloon popping rang out simultaneously.

The tentacle emerging from my left wrist, tearing through the bandage, made a noise as it hit something.

“…”

From the other side— I couldn’t see them.

Kosuzu had finally shown up.

I thought as I glared through the haze.

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