Chapter VII: Yui the Inugami
"We know you humans are accustomed to seeing your own everywhere you turn, hence our collective decision to shape shift into something a bit more palatable for you. I wanted to thank you myself for what you did for our village. I never thought humans would be capable of earning the respect of Tengu so easily. You must be some warrior." Vincent shook his head.
"I'm no warrior. When my opponent could no longer fight, I continued to strike until I nearly beat it to death. I lost control and became vicious, beast-like. I got lucky that the Tengu happened to see this as a show of strength and not as an insult." The village doctor and Vincent were both silent after this. She bandaged his hand with a kind of cloth that seemed to have healing properties.
"Follow me." The wizard complied and he followed the Inugami to her house right next to the small medical building.
"While I'm sure everyone in the village would be happy to offer you shelter while we prepare for the festival, you will be staying here as long as you're in our village. The door's always unlocked, so feel free to wander around and explore our little town." Upon being thanked for her kindness, the doctor went back to the medical building to take care of any Inugami injured by the recent Tengu attacks. The white haired wizard though to relax and thus searched for a hot spring. These were popular in Midi and the realm of the Yōkai reminded him of the nation.
It wasn't exactly the same, but he wouldn't be surprised if they shared certain customs. Sure enough, Vincent managed to find a onsen on the east side of town. He entered, showered, and entered the steaming hot water and sighed a sigh of relief. This felt quite nice. Vincent was presently sharing this hot spring with two other Inugami who seemingly knew each other and decided that it would probably be in his best interest to get acquainted with them. The two Inugami were reluctant to be so friendly with a stranger, especially a human stranger, but they were grateful to him for saving their village from the Tengu. Due to this important fact, they decided to converse with the stranger and tell him all about their village's history and its current state. The wizard found out that the village was build upon historically Tengu territory due to confusion between a Tengu lord and an Inugami lord. As such, Tengu would occasionally attack the village since they felt they had a right to it. Usually warriors were stationed in different parts of the town to drive off the crow demons, but all the warriors were out hunting or unavailable for reasons they didn't get into. Needless to say, if Vincent hadn't shown up when he did then the degree of destruction would have been quite high. In turn, Vincent explained where he came from and he told the Inugami truths about humans. They listened intently since they were only familiar with other Yōkai.
The white haired wizard may have embellished his own accomplishments in the tales he told, but he justified this by thinking that embellishment was part of the nature of storytelling. If one wanted to keep their audience enraptured then the storyteller would need to regale them with mentions of great feats. Vincent told the Inugami of human history as well as his personal history. He told them of Crystal Swan, the guild of explorers and artists, and Elvira Arcade, the card mage. Eventually they were all exchanging ridiculous stories and had a great time. As the sun set in the realm of the Yōkai, Vincent returned to Yui's home. After a long day for both of them, all he wanted to do was sleep. Surprisingly, Vincent awoke in the same place that he had fallen asleep for once. The mage, still groggy, walked into Yui's living room to find her in her kemonomimi form, most likely so that he would get startled by a lycan first thing in the morning. It was considerate.
"Good morning Yui. Thank you again for having me.""Good morning to you, human. I put some meat out for you. I'm not sure what exactly you humans eat, but I figured if meat is good enough for us it's good enough for you." she said, tearing apart a piece of uncooked meat with her clawed hands.
"Yeah, we eat meat, but we need to cook it or else we get sick." he said, pulling out a small scroll from his drawstring bag.
While his elemental magic no longer worked, Vincent was still able to cast incantations from previously prepared scrolls. He did so and the raw meat before him was cooked to perfection. Vincent sat on his legs due to the table being so close to the floor, picked up the meat with his hands, and began to eat it. This process of cooking the meat intrigued the doctor and she looked intently at his meal. The white haired wizard raised his eyebrow and offered a piece of it to her which she graciously accepted.
"This... this is delicious! That was fire magic you used, was it not? Are you going to have me believe that applying fire to food is all you have to do in order to improve its taste to such a degree?!" Vincent nodded.
I suppose that they must not get sick from eating raw meat or else they would know that. The fire magic dries up all of the sustaining essence of the meal, I will admit, but the taste almost more than makes up for the lack of nutritional benefits! "I'm glad you liked it Yui. It'll be something to keep in mind after I leave. When exactly is this festival going to happen?" "Oh the preparations will take another week. Be patient, we Inugami pride ourselves in our festivities." Another week? Am I willing to wait that long? Well... I suppose that I'll never get another opportunity like this again. At least not any time soon. Alright, I'll stay.For the next week Vincent stayed in the Inugami village and got close to many of the people who lived in it. He assisted Yui in the medical building as best he could, but without proper knowledge of Inugami anatomy he was only useful in taking inventory and restocking supplies such as medicines and other supplies. He went along with the hunters of the village and assisted in bringing back prey, strengthening his ability with a bow and arrow due to the fact that his current magic simply wasn't cooperating. He helped the blacksmith by telling him of the different methods that the Earthland blacksmiths of the Pergrande Kingdom used in order to turn ordinary blades into masterworks. Finally, the day of the festival came and Vincent found himself being fitted by a tailor.
"I have to admit that the form of you humans is quite useful. Our true form is very useful when it comes to hunting beasts, but your forms are much better for just about everything else. Hands to craft are just about the most useful thing I can think of. I believe that we Yōkai may have been inspired to organize villages the way we have by the villages that the few of us who have traveled to your realm saw. It's much better than simply traveling in packs and constantly moving throughout our lives - that much is certain. As a means of thanks, we've adopted some of the traditions of the land you call Midi."Vincent figured as much.
How interesting that the Yōkai that the Midians talk about in their legends also take from the Midians due to their comparatively more convenient way of life. Very interesting indeed. The wizard soon found himself dressed in a striped blue yukata with a pair of odd wooden sandals that Yui called geta.
"What do you think? Not such a bad approximation of what we've seen in the human world, is it?" Vincent smiled and shook his head.
"Yes, you Inugami have faithfully recreated traditional Midian clothing. Call me impressed." Yui, too, wore a yukata. Hers had a floral pattern and what colored black except for the flowers, which were white.
"You look quite nice this evening, Yui." She smiled at him and returned the sentiment. The moon outside was full and the light added to the light of red paper lamps spread throughout the town in order to give the village a certain magical look that Vincent could never do justice with mere descriptions. That said, he took out his sketchbook and began to draw the scenery before him. He was getting much better at sketching and figured that he would probably qualify as an artist at some point. Still, his art was exclusive to the creatures he knew of as well as landscapes - nothing more. The entire town was gathered at the center and, once everyone was present, the village elder stood upon a raised wooden stage to address the crowd.
"Welcome everyone to the first festival we have ever thrown in honor of a human. If you would be so kind, please join me on the stage Vincent." The wizard clumsily walked up the wooden stairs of the stage and made his way to the side of the village elder.
Walking in these geta feels so odd. How do the people of Midi do it? "As you all know by now, this is the human who rescued our village without so much as being asked and his name is Vincent Gauss of Earthland!" The elder paused after introducing Vincent and the people of the town began to clap and cheer. They were really a grateful bunch.
"As long as this village stands, we will celebrate this heroic mage and the land from which he comes every year in honor of the kindness and bravery. He simply could have waited and lounged for the entirety of his stay, but instead he made himself useful to us even when he did not have to! That speaks volumes of his character and thus we will celebrate the day our village was saved by a noble human on this day every year!" Once again, the crowd erupted into a cheer.
"Let's make sure that Vincent remembers us fondly as he travels to our lord in the village to the east!" For the last time, the crowd burst out into cheers. This time, though, it was much louder than usual. The white haired mage could feel the wooden platform quake in the presence of the energy.
The festival was one that Vincent would never forget for as long as he lived. He wasn't sure if anyone were going to believe him, but the night was truly magical. The wizard and his female Inugami companion traveled the entire village to visit stalls of exotic foods taken from Midi and stored for just such an occasion. This would be the first time that many Inugami tried food such as fried octopus and kebabs of cooked meat. Not only would Vincent remember the festival, everyone in the village would as well.
It's fitting that they acquired food from Earthland to serve in the festival to celebrate a human from there. "And just after I told you about cooking meat, too. Your festival organizers managed to figure it out themselves too, apparently, but were saving it for the right time." Yui laughed at that.
"Yes, it's quite a coincidence. Are you fine walking in those geta?" Vincent nodded.
"They're a bit awkward, if I'm honest. I'm not from Midi myself so I'm not used to them, but I think I'm getting the hang of it." Yui nodded. That's when Vincent heard the high pitched tone.
Don't tell me that they really managed to figure out... A loud bang in the air kept him from finishing the thought. The answer was obvious. The Inugami figured out how to operate basic fireworks and thus they illuminated the sky with colorful lights.
"It's truly breathtaking. I really appreciate all the work you all went through.""It's like I said: we pride ourselves in our festivities. If they don't take your breath away then we've failed."The festival continued for the entire night, and then the entire day. It wrapped up at the sunset of the day following the night. Exhausted, Vincent lay still on the small bedding provided to him in Yui's home.
"I can't remember the last time I enjoyed myself so much, Yui. Thanks for accompanying me." The Inugami responded that she was happy to do it and that she didn't think humans could be so interesting. Vincent swiftly fell asleep after a short exchange with his host. In the morning, he donned his typical mage's robes and boots, putting the yukata and geta into his black drawstring back since he couldn't send them to his requip dimension. He thanked Yui and she gave him a small memento to remember her and her village by. It was a small ring made from the fallen tooth of an Inugami. The ring was supposed to be a charm of good luck as well as a symbol of good will between the mage and the Inugami. Without another word, Vincent left to the large village in the horizon. His quest was coming to an end and he felt as though that a final trial of sorts awaited him in the palace of the Inugami lord.
WC: 10326/14000