Ch. 19 Trip to Sunrise Land pt.2

Mana Tatsumiya was a gem in the rough.

She was a young adolescent girl, approximately 12-13, but the life she must have lived made it a bit difficult to truly tell. Her youkai heritage helped keep most of the effects of her poor lifestyle, even by feudal Japanese standards, at bay but her mother's body told me enough.

Significant lack of body fat or muscles, nails chewed almost completely to try an stave of hunger, minimal bleeding from head wound from malnutrition. Dirt covered body, matted hair, improperly healed wounds, completely tattered clothing and no sign of any currency or supplies.

All this from someone who should be from a rather strong Shinto magic practitioner. From all the information I've gathered on Japan, the Tatsumiya shrine is a prominent gathering of Shinto users right below the current Five Principal Clans and led by the Tatsumiya clan, only lacking due to not having any Sacred Beasts.

My guess is a black oni took interest in Mana's mother and either seduced or more likely raped her. He was either killed or left afterward and her mother chose to keep the innocent child. Unfortunately these kinds of clans always act the same way, kill anything that doesn't correspond to their 'laws' and Mana was much more than just breaking their laws too, she was a stain on their 'honor' and 'reputation'. They almost certainly ordered her death and depending on her mother's standing, either having to kill her own child to remain part of the clan or dying with it.

Honestly, these clans act like they want to not have any actual powerhouses.

Now as for Mana herself, she inherited classic Japanese straight black hair but was matted due to her lifestyle. She had a similar skin tone as me but lighter, hence why she asked if I was her father, hazel eyes and calm aristocratic features visible through her travel worn face.

I decided a nice warm bath and meal would do wonders for the girl and brought her to my handy portable home, where the two foxes I had left behind stayed when I went to get Mana.

"Looks like our second little fox is awake." I casually said to the two as I startled them.

The elder sister with two tails looked at me with cautious expression while smaller golden one was behind her sister looking at me with a mix of caution and curiosity.

"You have sacred foxes Lith-sama?" The surprised Mana asked as stood a bit behind me looking at foxes.

"Honestly I rescued them moments before going to get you. I felt both of your struggles and hurried, so I don't really know them." I replied as I scratched my cheek awkwardly.

"Lith-sama… did you just rescue heavenly foxes by coincidence?" The young girl asked in a deadpanned manner.

"Yeah. I was actually planning on checking for a few recruit candidates for my territory, but then I felt what was happening to you three and decided to to help out and see if I can recruit any of you if you had potential." I honestly answered.

"Azaroth-sama, please do not take people from any established forces. Amaterasu-sama would not be pleased." Mitozaiki said which made the three girls finally notice the much smaller and less impactful lady.

Mana just looked at her, then me seeing no negative reaction on my end, just kept quiet.

The two foxes on the other hand were incredibly tense.

"Tamamo of the kitsune tribe greets the divine messenger!" The golden-brown one declared as she bowed.

"Yasaka of the kitsune tribe greets the divine messenger!" The golden one said as she followed her sister's example.

Mitozaiki simply looked at them, then at me seriously.

"Azaroth-sama, why did you take the daughters of the leader of the capital Youkai?" She coldly questioned.

"I didn't take them, I rescued them. The elder one was going to sacrifice herself to give her sister a chance to escape with her life." I replied seriously to the divine servant.

That made her eyes open and then turn to the sisters.

"Is Azaroth-sama speaking the truth daughters of Kuruma?" She questioned with dead seriousness.

Mostly because someone actively trying to kill members of the kyubi line, a line blessed by her lady, was a grave offense.

"Yes messenger-sama. The five clans somehow learnt that the great gods would be unable to interfere for a few days and declared that they would sweep any youkai from the capital… including Otou-sama." Tamamo sadly answered as her ears and tails drooped.

"This must be reported to my lady immediately. Azaroth-sama I am afraid I must return to Takamahagara immediately." Mitozaiki urgently said to me.

"And I assume this means my tour has to be cut short. Very well. I will ask my head servant Fia and my chef Liora to look after these three. They need rest, to relax and some food." I replied as I opened two portals.

One was where Serafall was talking to the three siblings, which surprised the gods but Fia understood and excused herself to enter. She had been taking care of her future mistress while I was gone.

The second was in my castle's kitchen where Liora was simply trying new recipes, which she abandoned when she noticed my portal.

"It would seem your… habit has made you pick up more strays master. I understand my duty." Fia seriously said after giving the three dirty girls/foxes a quick look.

"Thank you Fia. The two foxes are important Youkai and the girl is a potential peerage member." I simply told her so she would know how to treat them.

"Understood." She simply responded as she asked the three girls to follow her.

Mana gave me a quick look of nervousness and worry.

"Do not worry Mana. Fia has been with me the longest out of all my people, I trust her completely. She's going to get you cleaned up and taken cared of." I softly told the girl as I unconsciously patted her head like I do with Serafall.

She was a little dazed, but nodded and followed Fia nonetheless.

I then gave a quick look towards Liora, to which she simply nodded and walked towards the kitchen to ready their meals. As a chef she already knew exactly what each of those girls needed, especially Mana.

"Shall we Miss Mitozaiki?" I then said to the stunned divine servant as I closed the portal to my castle and walked into the Takamahagara throne room, with her quickly following.

"It would seem that we must better our security." Tsukuyomi commented as he understood the consequences of me being able to make a portal into their throne room.

"Please do not be too alarmed Tsukuyomi-sama, I could only achieve this because I made sure to be able to reach my beloved wherever she might be. Even the dimensional gap." I replied seriously, but i doubt that will assuage their worries.

At most it will tell them some sort of condition is needed for me to break into their divine realm.

I don't since I've been here now and know how this particular dimension feels like, but they don't need to know that.

"Plus there's been a bit of a situation Mitozaiki said needed to be urgently reported." I added which made them look at her with a silent question.

"Yes my lady. It seems the Five Principal clans used the knowledge of this meeting to target all Youkais in the capital. Including the Kitsunes and Kyubi." She gravely reported to the trio.

Oh boy, as soon as those words left her mouth I could tell why chief gods were so respected.

The anger Amaterasu felt instantly caused the room to become absurdly hot and bright as her divinity of the sun flooded the room and Takamahagara as a whole.

"Sister. Calm yourself. Your aura is going to hurt our guests and your new friend." Tsukuyomi said as he coaxed the goddess, "Just let me deal with this and I will make sure to punish them severely for this transgression."

"Their heads… get me the heads of those responsible for attacking my chosen guardians." She declared in cold fury, to which Tsukuyomi grimly nods at before teleporting out.

I would be furious over this too.

It would be the equivalent of some guards deciding to kill Horuth somehow so they can control the military. Stupid, short-sighted and would be met with me killing every single person responsible.

"Can you tell me what happened honey?" Serafall asked since she was going to have to deal with the gods who had been upset by something.

One quick explanation later and she was in deep thought.

"Hey." Susano'o called out, "Mito said to us that you rescued two of them right?"

"Indeed Susano'o-sama. They should be eating some delicious food at moment." I answered as I calculated the difference in time flows between here and the H.A.H. It depends on the setting i left it at, but it can turn 1h into 24h right now. It's just not recommended for those who either can't revitalize their bodies properly or reverse the long-term effects of staying in an accelerated time flow.

"Can you bring them out when they're done? I'm sure it'll help ane-ue calm down." The storm god asked seriously since a mad sun goddess was a dangerous thing.

"I'm sure they would be honored to see Amaterasu-sama if one goes by the reaction they had when meeting Mitozaiki." I responded which gave me a nod from the god.

Meanwhile Serafall carefully approached her new friend and started talking with her gently. Demonstrating that women are needed to deal with women sometimes, especially when they're emotional and have no significant other.

It took a few minutes, but I received a signal from Fia stating that the girls were ready and apparently the two foxes had recovered enough to be in human form.

I opened the portal to find three young beauties of different flavors, all dressed in shrine maiden uniforms.

Tamamo looked like a beautiful, energetic and upbeat girl, with pink hair tied in twin tails with a blue ribbon, and her fox ears and tails in plain view. She was the eldest of the three girls at around 16 years old and chose the shrine maiden outfit because that is a traditional outfit for her family due to inhabiting shrines themselves.

Yasaka was a lovely golden flower which was only started to bloom at 11-12, with a much more reserved and calm aura than her sister. She had her golden blonde hair in a ponytail, her similarly colored fox ears and tails out, also wearing a shrine maiden outfit.

And Mana had undergone quite a transformation as the travel worn girl had been totally cleaned and properly dressed. Her straight black hair now smooth and silky thanks to the wonders of future hair products and hair care potions, while her skin looked smooth and unblemished, nicely contrasting with the shrine maiden outfit she had chosen because she had a faint memory of her mother wearing one before and wanted to do so as well.

She looked quite cute as she couldn't deal with her embarrassment over wanting to look good for her new 'lord' and the fact that she had actually been shocked over the change herself.

Fia is very thorough in her reports and telepathy magic is great.

"Don't you three clean up well." I commented to help lessen the tension in their bodies over being told they were going to be in front of the most renowned and powerful goddess in Japan. "Mana, can you come here please? This is more for the two little foxes."

The dark skinned girl shyly did so as she hid behind me and grabbed my sleeve subconsciously.

It was too cute. Almost glomped her right then and there. And Serafall seemed to agree as the young girl trying to keep an emotionless face acted so cute. I think Sera is rubbing off on me.

Wonder if I'll pamper Sona too in the future because it sounded fun to join Sera?

Thoughts for later.

"Who's the other kid? She kinda looks like yours." Susano'o asked as he noticed an unexpected guest.

That also got Serafall's attention as her eyes zoomed in on Mana and myself in judgement.

"This is Mana Susano'o-sama. I rescued her about the same time as the two over there. I'm guessing her mother was from Tatsumiya Shrine and a black oni managed to, you know." I explained to him and he could immediately guess what would happen next since he is one of the leading gods.

And based on his grimace, he surely knew what I had rescued the girl from. And Serafall accepted the explanation.

"Sorry about everything girly." The storm god said as he crouched to her eye level, which initially made her flinch a bit but she looked him in the yes as I noticed was her way of judging others.

"Thank you Susano'o-sama." She respectfully said as she noticed I was doing so and decided to follow her 'lord's' lead.

"Look, I know this won't make up for it, but since you've got some black oni in you and they're the youkai who are closest to me, I'll give you a little blessing and I can look to see if I can find your otou-san if you want." The god awkwardly said as one could plainly tell he wasn't exactly used to handling younger beings.

Mana looks up at me, which I simply give her a soft smile and small gesture to tell her it was her decision.

"Thank you very much Susano'o-sama, but I would rather stay with Lith-sama than my… father." She replied as she did her best to not show her dislike for her father.

Both the god and myself already understood far more than enough with her response.

"Well that's alright girly. But I'll still give you a blessing. You've got quite the spark in you already and I'm sure this guy here won't let you waste it." The storm god said as he ruffled Mana's hair, releasing small sparks which entered her body as tried her best to not let her newly coifed hair gett messed up. "Haha! Hope you become quite the little warrior girly!"

And with that the storm god left us to rejoin the girls who had been talking to the fox sisters.

"This was unexpected, but it will help you a lot when you doing things linked with Susano'o-sama himself." I told her as she seriously nodded in understanding.

Unknown to me however, this event further cemented her will to follow since in less than a day she had experienced more luxury than in her entire life, met the most powerful gods her mother had told her about and received a blessing from Susano'o himself.

I decided that it was time to approach the rest of the group to know what was going to happen to the fox girls I had rescued.

"So what's the deal so far?" I quietly asked Sera.

"Ama-chan wants to compensate the girls for their loses and help them go back to their home, but the older sister doesn't believe it'll be safe even after those five clans get punished. They've been trying to figure out a good way to do things, but it's hard since the elder sister apparently can't become the clan head for some reasons and the younger one needs to be trained to lead." She explained as I got the gist of things.

"-I am sorry Amaterasu-sama, but it is simply not safe for us even with your protection. You cannot interfere directly too much or might get in trouble, while the clans would most likely try to hunt us down and the other youkais might kill us to usurp our position or try to use us." Tamamo said to the goddess with a hopeless voice.

And it is true that the gods can no longer interfere directly with the human world. That's why they've been able to avoid inter-pantheonic wars for so long. They've only kept human agents or some other means to stay up to date with the earth while staying in their domains.

"But I can't just let you two be." A sad and frustrated Amaterasu said to them.

"I may have a solution Amaterasu-sama, if you can show some trust in us or at least in a binding contract." I said to them as the three turned to look at me with curiosity for the most part.

"Oh? And what is your solution to this dilemma Lord Azaroth?" The sun goddess seriously asked as this was a matter of importance to her.

"Simple, if they cannot safely live in your lands while they grow strong enough to reclaim what is theirs, then why not do so in mine?" I answered diplomatically.

"They cannot grow stronger as Youkai in the Underworld. The natural energy there is far too negative." Amaterasu immediately replied protectively.

"I can guarantee they can safely and efficiently grow stronger at least under my care because I can create the perfect training environment for them." I countered confidently.

"How?" She asked with narrowed eyes.

"Hmm. Please do not resist Amaterasu-sama. I shall demonstrate." I replied as I enveloppe everyone present and teleported us.

We ended in one of the first perfected pocket dimensions I had created. It was an idyllic place filled with bountiful forest and meadows, natural beauty and peace. It was also the place with the purest natural energy I knew existed due to it amassing without any negative influences in an accelerated time.

I created this place 5 years ago, but it's been 500 in the pocket dimension.

It was more of a proof of concept really.

To properly learn senjutsu in the future and for those I knew would use it, I created dozens of progressively more tainted environments filled with nature energy. They only contain plant life however since I cannot truly create sentient life.

I showed them every one as everyone beside Serafall, who had a prideful look, were simply blown away or impressed.

As we finished the tour, Amaterasu looked at me with a steely look.

"What is this deal then Lord Azaroth?" She asked.

"It's simple. The two girls will enter a temporary familiar contract with myself and Serafall as an excuse to bring them to the Underworld should anyone find out.

Once there, they will reside in my territory due to Serafall not having her own and mine being basically an independent state for the last decade thanks to my actions during the war.

We will do everything we can to ensure the girls grow safe and strong, while trainers for senjutsu and youjutsu would be provided by you and secretly brought by me.

You shall be entitled to request their presence at anytime to guarantee their safety. And if we do not comply or a tragedy has occurred, I shall personally fulfill what you deem appropriate as compensation.

In exchange, we will draft two deals, one for House Azaroth and the other for the Devil faction as a whole. These will be for various trade and permission to request those under your protection to join Devil peerages if done properly." I broadly explained as I received a look from Sera when I said I would take care of the penalties, but I looked back at her until I won our silent conversation and moved on.

"You wish to take kyubi youkais as familiars?" She questioned a bit angrily.

"As a way to explain why such powerful youkai are in the Underworld if discovered, yes. It will also help the girls tremendously due to both of us being much stronger and the familiar bond giving them many benefits. But if it helps, we can also add that neither of us will use the familiar bond for anything beside emergencies." I calmly replied which seemed to help cool down the goddess.

"I would never hurt such cute girls in need Ama-Chan!" Serafall righteously declared.

"Alright. Then this will be a test for the Devils to decide if we shall deepen our ties in the future." Amaterasu declared.

What followed was the creation of the magically and divinely binding magical contract we had discussed after working through more details.

It's nice to know if things really went very bad somehow, I could still use my Longinus to get out of it. Not telling anyone, but nice for me.

And then we made the official contract the high ranking devils would know about and which would help cement Serafall's position even further now that her first diplomatic mission ended with success.

Afterward I managed to continue my tour of Japan, but with Mana this time as I showed the girl the wonders of her homeland, which she had never been able to see.

It was nice to see her eyes light up in wonder even if her face remained almost impassive. It served to make us a bit closer as well.

I ended the tour by visiting one Senji Muramasa.

He impressed me when I finally understood that he had the ability to subconsciously use the natural energy in the world during the crafting of his blades, which due to it being tainted by negativity, led to his swords being known as cursed later.

I managed to appeal to his spirit as a blacksmith when making a deal with him to become a Devil under Fia.

I would get him opportunities to learn how to smith in the supernatural world and provide him with the best materials I could in exchange for his ever improving crafts. He would also agree to teach some students in my lands.

By the end of the day he was reincarnated, changing the old man he had been to a honest and straightforward looking youth with short black hair and blazing red eyes mixed with gold. He was also well muscled due to his life as a smith. (Black haired muramasa from fate)

With this i finished my trip to Japan and set up a very comfortable position for myself in the future as long as I keep building up my connections and reputations with the Shinto gods and the future leader of half the Youkais in the country. I also received a potential peerage member who looks more promising as time passes.

Serafall on her end got a good deal for devils and was fast at work befriending the upbeat Tamamo once the two broke the ice. She had even managed to touch the ears and tails of both sisters already, much to my jealousy.

So after saying goodbye to the god trio, we made our way back home to enjoy ourselves a bit, while also introducing the girls to everyone.

The two foxes were cautious at first due to this being their first time in a new place filled with strangers from another pantheon, but they gradually warmed up to everyone.

Mana was much more reserved, preferring to stay as close as possible to me at all times. Only trusting Liora and Fia so far, but she at least took a shine to Heltana once I told her about the huntress.

Overall, a nice trip to Sunrise Land.

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EXTRA AUTHOR NOTES:

About the fox sisters.

As of now Tamamo is on track to join Serafall's peerage later. She will have weaker foxfire and youkai abilities than Yasaka due to her innate curse oriented energy, but they will make of for it and then some. I just think her and Sera mix well together.

Yasaka will be the leader of the youkais like canon, but a good deal stronger. Kinda want to see her pimp slap those fucking 'hero' morons. There is currently a high chance of Kunou becoming Lith's child, so there is that.

And yes, their dad's name was Kuruma because I can.

As for Muramasa.

He does have the Shirou face, but that's it. He is a bit of a mix between historical, fate and a supernatural version of him at the moment. And for those people wanking for Yamato, he will make one, but it won't be Lith's main weapon. He will make a more appropriate one later as he branches out from pure sword making.