Chapter 37,5: The first steps

It had been about two days since we had left the castle, during all this time the rain had not stopped and there were even moments when it increased in intensity. 

During the short time we traveled in that kind of weather, the difficulties we encountered along the way became more and more difficult. Whether it was the completely impassable roads, debris from fallen trees and the health of the two horses which was declining. 

"It's amazing that there are so many of these structures scattered all over the place."

"They are mainly used by traveling monks, priestesses and anyone who needs a place of shelter at night."

After listening to his words, I begin to observe the structure that will give us shelter on this day. It was a building that stands out for its simplicity, the walls are made of paper walls, its roof is made of blue tiles and over the entrance door there is a rope from which hang some talismans.

"What 's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing. You can go in first, I'm going to take care of the horses."

Waving her hand sideways so that she won't make light of my surprise detention, she formed a quick excuse and I made finger signals for her to go in first. Obviously it wasn't because I'm afraid, but because the last time I was in a temple, I was literally squeezed of all energy before I ended up here... Yeah, bad experiences. 

"Saya, Saya, Saya. come out at once!"

Cutting the air with Cloudy Fang that still remains in its sheath, I start shouting Saya's name for her to come out from in there and help me with my current doubts. 

"St, sto. stop!"

Even after hearing Saya's screams that she's screaming for me to stop, she continued to shake Clouded Fang for a few seconds, as revenge for making me stay in the rain for so long. Taking advantage of the fact that I have stopped, Saya quickly emerges from inside the pod and begins to fix her attire. 

"Okay, okay, serious moment. You remember what happened when I first encountered Clouded Fang, now I find myself in the same situation... Entering a temple!"

"Well, why? Yeah, maybe."

Moving Clouded Fang out of Saya's reach, seeing that Saya wants to go back inside and most likely escape the repercussions of what he has to say. I look him up and down as I wait for him to explain his strange way of acting. 

"Ahem, ahem. you shouldn't worry about going in there, what keeps the yokais out are not the structures, but rather the talismans charged with positive energy."

"Oh... then I wonder what happened to me the first time we met, because if structures are not the problem and if we consider the lack of talismans in that place. Where did my energy go?"

Most likely it was Clouded Fang, at those times I was not defensive with her and it would have been easy to steal my energy. 

"When you found Cloudy Fang, the seal was on its last legs and energy was urgently needed for a carrier. The latter was instantly ruled out, since Inu no Taisho no one has been able to control Cloud Fang. So let Cloudy Fang take your energy, making her stronger and the seal as well."

Well that was mildly expected, although it was like drinking salt water to kill your thirst. It takes it out of you instantly, but comes back stronger later. The seal and the sword are complementary, but the seal is always a little weaker than the first. So in the end the seal would last a little longer, but when the sword tries to break free again, the sword would not be able to do anything. 

"I'm not going to have an opinion on your dilation techniques, but I have a doubt. If Clouded Fang still had the energy he had stolen from me in that temple, why didn't he escape after appearing in this place. I don't want to say it, but he could have easily controlled me when I was unconscious or looked for a new carrier."

"It's not that easy, a lot of strange things happened after you fell into that well. Somewhere in all this strangeness, Cloudy Fang activated his technique of opening a gateway to hell and even though it backfired, the spatial distortion left you somewhere random"

Oh, that explains a lot. It explains nothing! Why is there a magic well? How the hell did I end up here? Taking a few deep breaths, as this topic of conversation has brought back my old doubts. I took a breath again, before throwing this topic to the back of my mind, just as I have done these past few days.

"Well, my doubts have been cleared by your words. Now I'm going to look for a place to leave these horses."

Finishing talking to Saya, he grabbed the reins of the two horses and I start to walk around the place a few times. The good thing was that behind this structure was a small porch, quite rustic, but enough to keep the horses out of the elements.