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I’m A Villager, So What? – Chapter 36 – part 11

Saegusa lowered her eyelashes and said with a half-smile mixed with a hint of madness.

「Hey, Lute-kun? I… couldn’t do anything, you know? The people in my village were attacked by demons, ravaged, everything was taken away—crops, money—and the women were abducted and violated… And yet, I couldn’t do anything.」

And then, Saegusa continued.

「To the little children, I was their Miko Ane-sama. To children of similar age, I was Koharu-sama. To older people, I was their Miko-sama. And to the old ladies and old men, I was the War Miko-sama. It’s laughable, isn’t it? Miko-sama, Miko Ane-sama… Everyone treated me kindly, admired me…」

Saegusa bit her lip, and blood flowed from her lips.

「…The adults who realized that I couldn’t channel the gods… They truly… expressed their anger, kindness, and resignation—all their emotions, and then, with a gentle smile, they… everyone… and…」

Tears welled up in her eyes.

「And then?」

Sadly, yet gently smiling, she said,

「They locked me up in the underground cell of the shrine… And… They were swallowed by the horde of demon generals and demon kings, and the village was annihilated.」

「I see. I’ve got the general idea. So, why did you come all the way to this eastern edge?」

「After the village was destroyed, I was summoned to the capital and admitted to the Onmyodo academy. Even if I couldn’t channel the gods, they believed that I, Saegusa, must have the aptitude for magic.」

If that’s the truth, I think they will make unreasonable demands of her.
Saegusa has always been in a special position, tailored to accept the gods.
She may have an aptitude for magic, but her brain’s magical circuits are completely covered with different spells and skills from ordinary magicians, making it impossible for her to handle normal magic.

The Eastern Hero—the Onmyodi seems to have the worst personality.

「What happened then?」

As I expected, Saegusa continued with the words I anticipated.

「You really think someone as clumsy as me can handle regular magic?」

Yeah, I don’t think so.

「And so, I became an outcast.」

「An outcast?」

「…The fact that the head of the legendary miko lineage, boasting thousands of years of history, is an incompetent who can’t even use basic magic… that fact was exposed to everyone.」

Well, yeah, when you think about it normally, Saegusa falls into the category of special skills.
She has her strengths and weaknesses… Well, there’s no point in saying that.

From the start, it was probably orchestrated to turn out this way.
Someone somewhere must have found Saegusa to be an obstacle in becoming the absolute strongest in the East.
This is probably just the petty story on that level.

「So, why are you here?」

At that moment, Saegusa smiled fleetingly.

「The power I lost… Saegusa’s power… It’s not something that belongs to me alone. My bloodline made a contract and covenant with the gods in the distant past, obtaining overwhelming power.」

Saegusa clenched her fist and continued.

「By chance, I was born as the eldest daughter. This power was acquired by the entire bloodline and passed down to the next generation through the power of the entire bloodline. I… I am just receiving that power on behalf of everyone, as their representative.」

「…And?」

「Everyone sacrificed themselves to protect me because they knew the nature of the power within me. The reason everyone died was to protect me and the significance of Saegusa within me.」

「…That could be true.」

「But I… No, Saegusa has become synonymous with uselessness in Wakoku.」

「I understand that, so could you finally answer my question? Why are you enrolled in the Magic Academy at the western edge?」

「…Because the spell formulas are different. If the Eastern magic doesn’t work, then perhaps the Western magic… The Saegusa clan is an ancient bloodline of righteous battle shrine maidens, tasked with sealing calamities. Even if I can’t channel the gods… If I make an effort, I can definitely… prove those who mocked Saegusa wrong.」

Ah, I sighed.
This person is truly just an idiot. She has no understanding of how unreasonable her desires are…
Why does the skill inherited from her bloodline possess such immense power? And even with that tremendous power, why does she strive to acquire the power of conventional magic used by ordinary people?

Without understanding any of that meaning… She has come all the way from the Far East to the western edge.

「Lastly, let me ask… The reason you can no longer channel the gods is due to the curse that appears on your shoulder, right? Why don’t you cure that abnormal state?」

「If I could, I would have done it a long time ago. I showed it to doctors, renowned exorcists, I showed it to everyone, but they were all at a loss.」

I can’t help but be impressed by her determination to study from the Far East to the western edge solely to clear her family’s name, without seeking personal gain.
Well, since I myself have crawled through the mud and made it this far, I don’t dislike those who are doing their best.

「I guess so…」

I continued to gaze intently at Saegusa’s shoulder.
If I were to evaluate it on a scale of 1 to 10 for curses, it would probably be a 7.
To be able to construct such a spell formula with only knowledge from the human realm is quite impressive.

Well, no matter who in the human realm you ask, they would generally give up on it.
Or rather, they probably went through painstaking preparations using really underhanded methods for an unimaginable amount of time.

Now then… I’ll sort out the pieces I have on hand that might be able to do something about this situation.
Since Lilith is essential for activating the Senjutsu ritual, using Senjutsu at this very moment is impossible.

So…

「I guess I’ll have to… devour it.」

I shrugged my shoulders and brought my right palm closer to Saegusa’s afflicted area.

「Eh? Lute-kun?」

「Just be quiet for a moment.」

At the center of my right palm—I precisely released the seal of a large-devouring monster nesting in my body.

Then, from Saegusa’s shoulder, a pitch-black mist spewed out and was sucked into the palm of my hand.

「 Are those eyes in your palm? Lute-kun… What did you… do?」

「I lifted the curse that was placed on the shrine maiden. That’s all.」

After that, Saegusa looked at her own shoulder.
The wound remained the same, but the negative magic—the curse that had covered the wound—had completely disappeared.

After pondering for a moment, Saegusa widened her eyes and said,

「But, how…?」

「I devoured it.」

「You devoured it… eh… ah… eh?? What do you mean!? I visited various renowned teachers in Wakoku and they were all… all unable to do anything!」

Well, even if she’s so surprised, there’s no other way to put it than saying I devoured it.

「I can’t explain it in any other way… It would only make things more complicated if I were to explain…」

Beelzebub devours magic.
And Beelzebub’s ability naturally becomes something that I, as the master, can handle.
As a result, most attacks from magicians are rendered useless against me.

Lilith was exasperated by the cheat-like nature of this ability.
Well, she belongs to the magician lineage… so there are many aspects of this ability that she can’t understand.

And now, I’m facing Saegusa, who has some knowledge of divine descent but is not fully informed.
It’s hard to explain the fact that the manifestation of Beelzebub’s domain is not a form of divine descent but rather that I have tamed it, so it’s a bit too stimulating to explain.