The Hundred Stories of Miss Ghost

The shopkeeper Sifang Qiuzo, who was like a water tank, was still sitting in front of the counter, holding an iron pot decorated with gold and silver autumn grass and was making tea, while Fubuki was standing opposite him, as if he was asking him something.

"Shop manager, why did Lord Daoman really attract the spirits? Did you do something to that website?!"

"How can there be? My business has always been based on integrity. If there are problems, it can be said that there are problems in your shrine!"

Just hearing these two lines of dialogue, Xiaotong's brows immediately tightened.She stepped forward quickly and asked in a frosty voice: "You two, can you explain to me? Why are you two talking about our shrine here? What kind of conspiracy are you doing?!"

Fubuki, who was sitting in front of the counter, immediately turned her head when she heard the words, stared at us with wide eyes and said, "Hitomi...Miss Hitomi, why are you here?!"

Sifang Qiuzao steadily brewed two cups of tea, then put down the iron pot in his hand, and then smiled at us and said, "Hey, ah, isn't this Miss Sanriyue and Miss Mochizuki? Rare customers, how are you doing today? Will you come to visit my small shop when you are free? Could it be that you are finally planning to come to do business with me?"

"Please don't change the topic. What I want to ask is, Ms. Fubuki, why did you meet the store manager Sifang, and why are you still discussing the topic of our shrine here? Could it be that the store manager Sifang sent one of your men to lurk Come to our shrine, do you want to do something shameful?!"

Xiaotong's expression was solemn, and in the blink of an eye, he had already imagined a conspiracy by the dark forces against his shrine.

"Hahaha, Miss Sanriyue, your imagination is really rich." Sifang Qiuzao smiled heartily, and then said with a change of tone, "But if you think about it carefully, it still seems to be the same thing. It is true that she is an employee of my small shop. After all, she owes me a lot of money, so I can only ask her to work to pay back the money. However, I did not send her to your shrine, but It’s just that she went to your shrine to become a priestess. As for what she wants to do in the shrine, you have to ask her.

"

Fuyuki met Xiaotong's gaze, grabbed the hem of the clothes with both hands and rubbed them unconsciously, looking very nervous.

Xiaotong sighed, and then said: "Okay, then I will ask directly, may I ask Miss Fubuki, are you the Fusangshen who turned the Japanese sword that our family has kept in the owner's room in the past? "

Fuxue was obviously caught off guard by Xiao Tong's question, she couldn't help but blurted out: "How do you know... ah..."

There was an awkward silence in the air.

After being stunned for a while, Fuxue scratched his head, sighed, and said a little coyly: "It seems to have been exposed... well, let me introduce myself again... I am indeed an elf who lives on a knife, and the name of the knife is... ...Fubuki one word."

Chapter 31 The Demon Sword

"It's really like this..." Xiaotong murmured, although it was her own question, it was still unbelievable after it was confirmed, and she continued to ask, "Then, as evidence, let us see What does your body look like?"

"Forget this, let's forget about this... I'm a little embarrassed..." Fuxue blushed subtly for some reason, and she said hesitantly, "Because... because it's an ancient knife that is hundreds of years old, um... plus Master Daoman has not done maintenance on the knife once in the past ten years, so, so... it is not enough to meet people. I just recently made an appointment for sharpening, polishing, and oiling services, and I ordered a new one. The sheath and handle rolls haven't arrived yet, so..."

This conversation suddenly felt a little rough, and I don't know why I suddenly remembered the feeling of discussing makeup and clothing with my classmates in school, and I always felt a little surreal.

Xiaotong was also obviously speechless, she simply ignored the parts that made people want to complain, and asked bluntly: "Okay...can you tell me the ins and outs of the matter? What I know is that my father used the That ancient knife, Miss Fuxue, was exchanged for a fox mask that can change the voice from the store manager Sifang. I don’t know anything else, including what my father wants to do, and what is your purpose ? Can you explain it to me?"

Fubuki tried her best to organize her words, and then said to Xiaotong: "Miss Tong, that... let me tell you what I know first...

"First of all, you know, I am a very old knife, so old that I don't even know when it was cast. However, although the years as a knife are very long, it is only as a simple It exists as an artifact, but it has only been in the past ten years that a vague consciousness has really sprouted. I have almost no memory of the things before that, and I only have a very vague impression of some pictures.

"Since the birth of my consciousness, I have been placed on the knife holder, almost never used, not even pulled out for more than ten years. I can feel as if my blade is The rust is not so sharp at the beginning, Ms. Hitomi, can you imagine the helplessness of not being able to be used as a utensil? I heard that it will become a utensil of Fusangshen. It has gone through a long time, but it is not rare ah."

At this time, I couldn't help complaining: "But...you are a knife. If you are used, wouldn't you use it to kill people? It's not like the age of the samurai. You can use the knife to try to kill people. ah?"

Fubuki looked at me, nodded and explained to me: "Miss Mochizuki, you may not know me very well. Although I do think that if it is used as a weapon, I will be a good knife, and I feel no better than those in history. The famous sword with the name on it is bad. But in fact, when I was used as a weapon, it was rarely used. Because I was specially made as a "sacrificial sword", that is, a sword made to dedicate to the gods for blessing .So when I was used, it was mainly during sacrifices and ceremonies, Miss Hitomi, you should know."

"Well... I know... When I was a child, I remembered that there was a part of the offering ceremony during the festival, and the priestess also performed a sword dance. Because of this, I was asked to learn a little bit of kendo when I was a child. At that time, I still complained about why other The shrine is just an ordinary sacrificial dance, but our shrine has to dance with such a heavy and dangerous thing."

"Miss Tong, I'm not heavy." Fubuki argued dissatisfiedly, "Miss Tong, you are too weak."

"...Well, you can say yes. It's just... I remember, the priestess sword dance was canceled later, right? Although I used bamboo swords to practice sword dances when I was young, but later I really went to perform the ritual dance as a priestess In the end, it turned out that you only used ordinary royal coins?"

Fuxue showed a lonely look on his face, nodded and said: "Yes, it was cancelled. Because the head of the family at that time, the eldest brother of Lord Daoman, Lord Renman, he thought I was an ominous demon sword, so he banned me In the Tsukimi Festival, I was used to perform sword dance and sacrificing martial arts. Originally, I was used as a sacrificing sword, but in fact, I was always enshrined in front of the shrine of the gods, but later Master Renman took me away from the shrine and placed In the owner's room, and forbid the family members to pull me out again."

After hearing this, Xiaotong thought deeply: "Let's put it this way... No wonder when I wanted to play with a knife when I was young, my uncle and my father wouldn't let me touch you. Why would my uncle think you are a demon sword? Yes Because he felt that you had already been born with consciousness at that time?"

"At that time, I did have some weak consciousness, but Master Renman prohibited me from using it for other reasons..."

Fubuki stopped here, the fingers of her hands intertwined because of anxiety, and she also lowered her head, carefully raised her eyes to look at Xiaotong's face.

"What's the matter? Is that why you can't say it?"

"No... It's not that I can't say it, I'm just a little scared... The reason why Lord Renman wants to ban me is because I killed someone."

The moment I heard this, I thought of my guess this morning, and blurted out: "Could it be... that He Hui?"

Fuxue was surprised, then nodded and said: "Yes, Sanriyue Hehui died under my blade. He cut off his head in sleep. He died without pain."

Xiaotong's face darkened in an instant, "Why did you kill him? Killing an ordinary child, so you still say you are not a demon sword?!"

There was no anger or sadness in Fuxue's eyes, and he just said flatly: "Miss Tong, I am a weapon, how to use it is not up to me at the time. You should not ask me why I killed him, but you should ask me who held it at the time. The person who was looking at me, why did she kill that child?"

"Who? Who did it?" Xiaotong asked immediately.

When I heard the word "she" (the difference between men and women can be heard in Japanese), my heart skipped a beat, and I thought it was made by Hitomi's mother, but the name that Fubuki said next was beyond my expectation, it was A name that I don't seem to have heard, and I seem to have heard of it.

"Miss Tong and your second aunt did it."

"Huh?" Xiao Tong seemed completely unable to imagine the name, "My second aunt? How could she do such a thing? She is a warm-hearted and cheerful person who everyone likes? Even if everyone in our family Everyone is suspected of murder, so Aunt Zaowei should be the last one?!"

"It's not the same as it was at that time... It doesn't look right, it seems to be crazy, and the spirit is very abnormal. Master Renman beat her unconscious at the time, and then locked her in a room underground, but it didn't take long. She also died. I heard what Master Renman said to Master Daoman later, he seemed to think that I am a demon sword that can erode people's minds, and anyone who pulls out and wields me will be affected. And the person who uses me the most in the family...is the previous shrine maiden. First, Reina-sama committed suicide, and after Reina-sama died, the succeeding shrine maiden was Zaomi-sama...and Zami-sama went crazy, not long after Tsukimi-sama, It happened a few days after she pulled out my sword dance, so... Mr. Renman would think that I am a demon sword."

Chapter 32 Peer-to-peer transactions

"So, you mean to say that so many people who died in Sanriyue's family have nothing to do with you?" Xiaotong asked in a deep voice.

"I don't know if it has something to do with me, but I didn't do anything. Ever since Lord Renman issued the ban, I have been placed in that room of the head of the house. I have been watching that the number of people in the Sankayue family is getting less and less , until Lord Renman also passed away, and Lord Daoman lived in this room.

"For more than ten years, I have never been pulled out, or even moved. Even if it is a knife, it will be boring to stay still for a long time after having consciousness. Finally one day, I am tired of such days Yes, and then I suddenly discovered that I could make a sound. So, one day, I summoned Master Daoman, wanting him to know my existence, wanting to be taken seriously and active in the festival again! Master Daoman told me I was just surprised at being able to talk, listened carefully to what I said a lot, and then...I was traded to this grocery store by Mr. Doman..."

"Suddenly I feel that uncle is a scum..." I couldn't help complaining.

"I realized this ten years ago." Xiaotong agreed coldly.

"That... was traded to Sifang Store Manager, Sifang Store Manager taught me how to transform into a human form, but he also said that he exchanged it from Master Daoman to me at a very expensive price. , until I pay off the money, I need to work for Sifang Store Manager...the limit is 100 years, or I can exchange it with other items of the same value...The value of the item will be appraised by Sifang Store Manager."

I smacked my mouth and said: "Why do I smell a strong black-hearted businessman? Why would you really work for him honestly? If I knew that I turned into a man from a knife, I would end up with a large debt , then I would have sneaked away long ago."

Sifang Qiuzao took a sip from his teacup and said, "Both of you, don't you think it's a little bad for you to talk about debt evasion in front of me, a creditor? But I can kindly remind you that since I am People who do business with weirdness, even sometimes my goods are weird, of course there will be some means of risk control. The contract of the transaction is protected by the word spirit, Miss Fubuki, you also signed your name at that time, Names are powerful, and if you break the contract, there will be certain consequences."

"Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo..."

The store manager Sifang said with a cheerful smile: "You have to think about the problem actively. You see, other Fusangshen have been deformed for dozens or hundreds of years and their transformations are not perfect. You have only been born with consciousness for more than ten years, and you can master the perfect shape." This is a great blessing. Therefore, it is worthwhile to work for a mere 100 years! And, you can think again, if you really don’t want to work, you can introduce other friends to work here ? Although they may not be as valuable as yours, but if there are more of them, they will still be worth yours, right?"

Looking at the knife in front of me being cheated by profiteers, I couldn't help but feel suspicious. Is it really this "monster knife" that brought a curse to the Sanriyue family and wiped out the entire Sanriyue family?Judging by this silly appearance, it doesn't look like a demon sword, but rather a silly sword that will lower the IQ of everyone within a certain range.

"So, you don't know what that bastard my father wants to do? He sold you and you still maintain him?!"

"That...Actually, I have a little understanding of what Master Daoman wants to do. Master Daoman...seems to have been looking into the truth of Master Liannai's death. I haven't transformed into a form before, and I used it as a knife to fight against him. During the conversation, he asked me a lot of questions about Master Reina in the past, such as whether Master Reina used me when she was a witch. However, I was transformed after Master Reina died. Spiritual, so... I don't have much memory before that.

"As for why you want to defend Lord Daoman, it's because he sold me. He said to me that I was slandered as a demon sword in the past. This is something he doesn't agree with. He believes in Renai My lord's death was not because of me, and the investigation of Reina-sama also helped me to clear my reputation. But because the investigation of this matter requires a lot of funds, and the shrine can't pay the money, I will be used as a mortgage transaction for the time being. To the grocery store, when the truth is found out and the shrine has money, they will definitely redeem me! After all, I am a sacrificial sword handed down from generation to generation by the shrine, just like the signboard of this shrine Ah~"

I couldn't bear to look away, and exchanged glances with Xiaotong.

"I'm already in tears, what about you?"

"Me too."

"In short, let's clear Miss Fubuki's suspicion first. I believe that such a sincere Miss Fuxue should not be the culprit."

"Agree."

Amidst the question marks all over Fubuki's head, Hitomi and I reached an agreement.

We all turned our attention to Sifang Qiuzao, this fat man who looked down and couldn't see the ground had been happily listening to the play for a long time with a teacup beside him.

I said, "Then, next, Manager Sifang, can you please explain to us what Uncle Sanriyue wants to do?"

"Tsk tsk." Sifang Qiuzao waved his hand, "Didn't I say that there is also a charge for intelligence. Haven't you seen the modern financial system? A little intelligence will have a major impact on finance and the stock market, so , Information is very expensive, and information must be exchanged with an equivalent information."

"So, how do I know what kind of intelligence is equivalent?"

"Of course it's up to me to judge."

"But if I tell you the information, you already know it. If you say that the information is worthless, wouldn't it be a loss for me?"

"Well, this can only convince you of my integrity. Credit is the cornerstone of the modern economy! And my integrity is reflected in the fact that I will neither exaggerate nor derogate the value of a commodity. So, if If the value of your information is insufficient, you can make up for it by adding other information~"

"It's totally unbelievable."

"That's a pity."

"No, Manager Sifang, I'm still willing to make a deal with you. Then please listen to the information I exchanged—"

I lengthened my end note, and I saw the look of anticipation in Sifang Qiuzao's eyes, and at this moment——

I suddenly activated the power of thought, and the object of the drive pointed directly at the iron pot that Sifang Qiuzao put on the induction cooker on the counter table.

Sifang Qiuzao's face changed, and he wanted to stop him, but he was a step too late.

The iron pot was pushed into my hand by an invisible force, and I could feel the power of resistance coming from this pot, but I increased the power of my thoughts again, Sifang Qiuzao turned pale instantly, and this pot also Finally quiet down.

I used my thoughts to spin the iron pot on my fingertips, and then said to Sifang Qiuzo: "Since the name of the store is '99 Grocery House', it can also teach the method of blowing snow into shape, and you, the manager of Sifang, are also a The possibility of Fusangshen is quite high. My mother loves the tea ceremony and forced me to learn it when I was a child. The most annoying thing at that time was that I had to pay attention to the pots and water for making tea, and I had to recognize all kinds of pots. You The iron pot on the table is the work of the second generation of Longwentang. The gold, silver and autumn grass iron pot of Longwentang are rare. There are only a few such exquisitely preserved pots made by the second generation of Longwentang. In the name of Anzhisuke, I have also seen the descendants of Long Wentang’s generation. Our family ordered iron pots from them. I remember that none of his disciples and relatives seemed to be called Sifang Qiuzao. The name Qiuzao is understood as “autumn It seems more appropriate. Of course, the most critical evidence is that you look very much like a teapot. So my intelligence is, Manager Sifang, your body is this iron kettle. Do you think this information Is it worth it?"

Chapter 33 Fakes

Sifang Qiuzao wiped the sweat from his forehead, then pulled out a slightly stiff smile and said: "Wonderful analysis, but too much guesswork and assumptions, and too much thinking, it is an iron pot of a certain age That’s all, false information is worthless.”

"Really? Then take it as that I like this teapot very much. Do you mind if I exchange two of the works of Yasunosuke Sifang's second generation of the same age in my family for this one? It's a very profitable deal, right?" I blinked. Blinking and said to Sifang store manager.

"That's not necessary... this pot... um... it has a commemorative meaning to me, which cannot be compared with other pots. Although your analysis is completely wrong, but because of my understanding of that pot Some special memories of me, I might as well admit to this deal with a pinch of my nose."

"Okay." I let the pot keep turning quickly on the tip of my left finger, and made an invitation gesture with my right hand, "Please tell me first, and I will judge whether the information you said is of equal value~~"

Sifang Qiuzao took a sip of the tea with a slightly shaking hand, and then began to say:

"In the beginning, Mikayue Daoman came to the door by himself. Because I am in the business of weirdness, antiquities and intelligence, some ancient families, shrines, temples or weird hands have my contact information. And Dao It is true that he did not come here to sell knives, let alone buy the white fox mask. Strictly speaking, he also wanted to trade information with me. No, it should be said that he went a step further. He found What I want to trade is to customize a set of solutions."

"Solution? What the hell is that?"

"Haha, this is also the first time for me to do this kind of business. Daoman is indeed a person with a very flexible mind, and he has opened up a new world of business for me. To describe it vividly, it is equivalent to him as a Fang, with Fubuki’s words as a reward, entrusted me with a project, and the content of that project was-’A solution to re-reach the communication with the undead who have lost their spirituality and cannot communicate’.”

"!!!"

When Xiaotong heard this, he clenched his hands unconsciously, and murmured: "Re-communicate with the undead who can no longer talk... Could it be that bastard wants...but...how can this be done? That undead My personality has almost been obliterated, what is left is almost a residue..."

"That's what I told your father. The 'weathering' of the undead is irreversible. First, the memory begins to fade, then the personality begins to be obliterated, and finally the fire of thinking is gradually extinguished. A 'weathered' undead, it Most of his spirit has been lost, and it can't be replaced anyway. However, if you just follow Daoman's request, you only need to 're-establish communication', and you don't need to 're-live' the undead , that can be done.”

"Ah, what's the difference?" I couldn't help asking.

"Of course there is. To 'live' again means to let the spirit's thinking and humanity return to its original state. This is not realistic. But if it is just to 're-establish communication', it will be much easier. The spirit Although there are only residues left now, there must be a lot of things left, such as inner personality, some deep memories, some solid thinking circuits, etc., but it seems that a computer is broken and the data in the hard disk is damaged. One part and the other part are still intact, but the operating system is also broken, so we can't read this part of the data that is still intact. Just link to those materials. In other words, if you make a very similar 'fake' and make this 'fake' answer similar to the previous ontology, that is also 're-reached communication'?

I couldn't help but frowned deeply, "But, will my uncle really agree with such a plan? What he wants...shouldn't be this kind of fake, but want to talk to the 'original person' right?" ?”

"No, this is what Sanriyue Daoman wants." Sifang Qiuzao's eyes narrowed into a line with a smile, "I'm an honest businessman, so I will explain my plan to Daoman in detail. Told him it was just a 'lookalike fake with a similar answer', but he said, 'That's enough, I just...wanted to ask a question'."

"Just want to ask a question...? So, your method is to use virtual idols and message boards?"

"Originally, I just wanted to find a woman who was very similar to Mikazuki Reina, let her play the role of a priestess under the name of Mikazuki Reina, and then publicized that she was a human body hosting a god, so as to bring people's beliefs together With this witch, she will gradually move closer to the direction of "manifestation". Daoman seems to have sent some leaflets to recruit witches at the beginning, but it seems that no one can be found, and it is too slow to collect beliefs like this So he came up with the genius idea of ​​using virtual idols to collect wishes, it seems that I can't keep up with the times..."

"Wait a minute..." Xiaotong frowned suddenly, "That bastard wants to let people's beliefs converge on my mother's spirit, using the image of that virtual idol as a dialogue interface, right? Then... why is the image of that virtual idol Not 'Mikazuki Reina', but 'See you at Moonlight Night'?"

"Huh? Isn't it?" Sifang Qiuzao was surprised, "I actually didn't pay attention to the V...V...Hey Tuboer, logically speaking, the image must be 'Mikayue Reina' 'Huh? Otherwise, won't this make faith gather in the wrong place?"

"...strange." I murmured to myself, and then asked another question, "Also, why are all the fulfilled wishes related to being cut off? Is there any purpose for setting this up?"

"A wish to be fulfilled? Cut off the relationship? This is not something we set up. We made the wishing board just to collect wishes, but we never thought that these wishes would come true? Didn't I say it before, come true Wishes are the power of the gods, if you can make a wishing machine with just a virtual idol and an ordinary online message board, then the wish will come true too easily, right?"

"…………"

After getting more information than expected, we left the 99 grocery store.

"That old guy...what the hell is he doing..." Xiaotong murmured.

"However, I finally know what my uncle wants to do. In this way, maybe I can better convince my uncle."

"I hope. By the way, senior sister, you are too gentle. To such a profiteer, why did you return the pot to him? You should squeeze a few more good things from him."

"Hmm... Intuitively, I think it would be bad if I did that. With so many weird props here, maybe there will be something that can counteract it. It's not good to offend others too badly. Just as he said Yes, an equivalent exchange."

I shifted my gaze to Fubuki who came out with us, and asked, "Do you want to go back with us?"

"Of course!" Fubuki said positively, "The Tsukiyomi Festival is coming, and the opportunity to clear my reputation and reappear as a Bongna sword is at hand. It is my duty to restore the glory of Tsukiyomi Shrine!"

"You're still thinking about the Moon Festival... that's fine, as long as you're happy."

Take the tram back to the foot of Mt. Takao, and then walk a section of hiking trails to the torii of Tsukiyomi Shrine.Then I suddenly noticed a large delivery truck parked under the torii gate.

The hiking trail can be driven by car, but it can’t go up the stairs after this anyway. When we approached, we saw several men in black in black suits, busy going to the Tsukiyomi Shrine on the stairs Carrying things in big and small bags.

Xiao Tong was dumbfounded and said, "What are you doing?"

At this moment, Yuka Hanayamain, who was directing the men in black to carry things by the car, saw us, and immediately waved to us and said, "Hi, Hitomi, you're back~ Hey, this...Miss Fubuki is here too? "

"Youxiang... what are you doing?" A black line was drawn from the back of Xiaotong's head.

"Didn't I say it this morning? I'm going home today to get some things and come to live here?" Youxiang replied a little strangely.