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“haa, haa, haa.”
“I was climbing up the mountain covered with dense vegetation relentlessly, but eventually I stopped and sat down behind a big tree.
As I listened carefully, all I could hear was the sound of my own heavy breathing.
“Did I manage to escape somehow?”
I had been running around the mountain for a whole day, trying to escape. My stamina was beyond limit, but I couldn’t bring myself to sleep.
Who could have predicted that things would turn out like this?
“Are you okay, Senior?”
If my cool and resourceful senior was in my place, I believe he will survive no matter what.
“Ouch.”
As I shifted my gaze to my throbbing left arm, I saw torn holes in my long-sleeved shirt and teeth marks clearly imprinted on my skin.
“What could that have been?”
Despite the fact that this was the reality unfolding before my eyes, my mind and reason refused to acknowledge it.
Just yesterday, I had only been talking to the former mayor…
“Wait a minute! Are you saying that the man in the photo, Nanakagami -san, is the magician Tooru King and the head of the Nanakagami family?”
“That’s right. He called himself Tooru instead of’Tsu’, though.”
While listening to the former mayor’s talk about the village at the community center, I learned a shocking fact.
Mr. Jin Sakurazaka’s father is the same person as the famous magician Toru King and the head of Nanakagami.
Toru King always wore a mask that covered his eyes, so his face was unknown. As I struggled to recall vague memories and compared the photo to the person’s mouth, I couldn’t help but feel that they looked somewhat similar.
It seems like I’ll need to do an image search online later.
If this is true, it would explain the description of the house where the Sakurazaka siblings live. It would be possible if there were earnings from Toru King’s magician days.
“The one who is given this name is the most powerful person in the clan.”
“By ‘power’, do you mean the person who holds the most authority in the village?”
It’s common for village chiefs to pass their position down to their blood relatives. It’s only natural for it to be determined by family background.
“No, no. I mean pure power. The power that the clan seeks. It’s determined by the strength of that power.”
He said it in a light tone, but the content was unbelievable.
Does the former mayor even understand what he’s saying? Such an absurd story.
“No, no, you must be joking, right? By ‘the power that the clan seeks’, you don’t mean something like telekinesis or supernatural powers, do you?” my senior asked
“I do mean exactly that.”
I understand why the senior would want to deny it. I am of the same opinion.
“Um, excuse me. So, you mean that the head of the clan really could use something like supernatural powers?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
I had intended to remain a bystander, but the question escaped my lips.
There was no hint of joking on the former mayor’s face. Whether it was a lie or the truth, he believed it from the bottom of his heart. That’s how it appeared to me.
“I personally want to believe it, but I wonder if the editor-in-chief will approve this as an article.”
Despite being shaken, my senior hasn’t forgotten his role and is scratching his head with a troubled expression.
However, it was an incredible story. Even if the idea of “Rokushintou” and other psychic powers is dubious, the people in the village believed in it wholeheartedly and worked hard to train themselves.
My thinking is that if Tooru King, the magician, had the skills to excel in magic, he could have misled the villagers into thinking they could use Rokushintō, the six divine arts. It’s a bit of a bad way to put it, but he could have acted like a power user with a magic trick that had both a seed and a mechanism… and thus deceived them.
“The senior takes a notepad in hand and begins to contemplate.
Since my thoughts are not yet organized, I will quietly listen.
“If that’s the case, the village chief has been able to use high-level tricks since ancient times. This theory makes sense. It is likely that the village chief has passed down deception techniques to their chosen successors for generations.”
“It’s almost the same as the tactics used by sketchy religious organizations.
I remember hearing a similar story from my senior before, where they described the tactics used by new religious groups, such as claiming to perform miracles or appearing to heal illnesses and injuries, in order to gain more followers and collect donations.
It’s just that in this village, the object of worship happened to be the ‘Rokushin-Tsu’ in particular.
It was an interesting story, but once the trick is revealed, it loses its appeal. Although there is a slight sense of disappointment, I’m not naive enough to believe this story.
” “Don’t tell me you all don’t believe it?” The former mayor’s gaze sharpened, and his words carried a sting.
I wondered if this person either believed in the story or desperately wanted to believe in it.
“Well, it’s hard to believe. However, if we were to actually witness that power, then our thoughts might change.”
Upon hearing this, my senior looked at me and I gave him a nod of agreement.
“Well, I suppose that’s the expected reaction. Anyway, there is a teacup here.”
The former mayor stood up and held the teacup with both hands, presenting it in front of him as if cradling it.
I wasn’t sure what he was trying to do, but I paid attention nonetheless.
“If I let go of both hands, what do you think will happen?” he asked, looking at me.
I pretended to think for a moment before answering, “It will likely fall.”
“Hmm, yes. That’s correct. However…”