Volume 5, Chapter 10: Dancing Water Spirit Latter Part (2/2)

So its like that in other words. If the priestess didnt have that power of hers, it would be a story where she wouldnt know when she would be sacrificed.

It doesnt matter if it was to a god or a guardian, it would have to be intolerable for the one who would be sacrificed.

But then, if she thought that she wouldnt be sacrificed, wouldnt she be sent to the inner palace next time

That, in the end, she would be sent not the guardian of the lake, but the master of the country.

(If its like that, I wouldnt want to come back.)

On the contrary, it couldnt be helped if she held a grudge.

Maomao stared at the water in a daze. In the depths of the lake, there were leaves swaying on the surface of the water.

Children can climb onto some large lotus leaves, but theres no way you can dance on top of these of course, it was the moment she thought of something foolish.

Maomao stood up from her crouching.

Whats wrong, Freckles? Chouu peered at Maomao.

She ignored him and went down the steps. Then she looked at the old bridge. Not at it, but at the supports below it. It was covered in algae from being submerged, but they were sturdy pillars that hadnt rot.

Im telling the old man that you slacked off Kokyou said to Maomao with the grass sickle in hand.

Maomao grinned. Youre right. Lets get this over and done with, she said and returned to her post.

Give me the tobacco seeds.

That was the first thing Maomao said to the old man when she came back from cutting grass.

The old man was slurping noodles. It looked like he was eating half his beard.

I was wondering what you were going to say. If the seeds havent come out, give up, he said, chewing his noodles noisily.

Since she pretty much knew that he was going to show such a reaction, Maomao had an idea.

What if I tell you that I know the real form of the witch doctor you talked about? Maomao said in a whisper.

The old man stopped his unpleasant chewing sounds and set down the chopsticks.

Oi, Kokuyou. Go play with that sonny, the old man said, taking a ball out from the shelve that he threw to Kokuyou. The man failed to catch it. He ran out of the hut, chasing the ball, and Chouu went after him.

When the man got the people out of the way, he pointed at the chair, telling Maomao to sit.

Maomao sat on the chair and looked at the lake outside the window. When that witch doctor appeared, was it right in the middle of summer?

Thats right.

The rain was lighter than it is now, and besides, its the time the paddies needed water, right?

In this region, the waters for the paddy were drawn from the lake. Though it rained a lot right now, the water levels will rapidly decrease from hereon.

Was the priestess dance also at that time?

it was to pray for rain though.

How are those related, the old man wanted to say.

Maomao dipped her finger into the tea the old man had taken out for her out of obligation and drew a map on the table. The oval-shaped lake, the island and then the bridge. As if it was difficult to see, the old man passed her pen and paper. The paper was rough, but itll still be easy to look. She drew on the paper.

In the middle of that, Maomao pointed to the bank of the lake that was closest to the island. So, she prayed for the rain or something over here.

Thats right.

It was just right at the place that could be seen from the window.

Normally, I think it would studier to build the bridge here, but why not? Maomao purposefully asked the old man.

As if I know about that. Hurry up and explain it to me.

Maomao grinned at the old mans words.

This is hypothetical. Lets pretend that the water in the lake is quite deep at this place. At the start, you tried crossing this place with a bridge, but the water got deep along the way, so the bridge was abandoned for being useless. It was a waste of materials but youll need workers to take it apart as well. So leaving that as is in the water, you make a bridge somewhere else.

And so, they built it where the current bridge was. Until then, they must have used boats to go the shrine.

What if the pillars that were submerged in the water are still in the lake?

The timber for the bridge was sturdy wood from the south. If they used the same material, it should still be in the water.

And so, only in the season where the lake water was at its lowest, was when it is close to the surface of the water. And if you walk on top of it, it would only look like you were walking on water. The small water level adjustment should be good enough if you adjust the amount of water that flowed into the paddies.

In the murky water and floating weeds, if you cant see whats close by, you wouldnt know the existence of that pillar.

The reason you cant have boats out, its so that you wont hit those pillars, right?

Had the workers requested that when they were building the bridge? In order to hide their sloppy bridge building project from the villagers, they must have buried the pillars to keep it a secret. And that it was the priestess at that time who had cleverly made use of that.

The old man squinted. It looked like he wanted to say something. Did Ruomen raise you to talk of speculation like this as well?

I want to investigate the lake to investigate that speculation though.

She spoke to the old man to make sure of that. The old man scowled at Maomao, but stood up, telling her to come with him.

I wont talk about myself, but you really dont have a bit of emotion, huh, he said.

The old man called out the two people who were playing with the ball outside.

Go buy something that we can have for dinner, he said and had Kokuyou hold onto the money. Sonny, this guy gets overcharged a lot. Im sorry, but can you go along with him?

Yeah, leave it to me, Chouu said and followed Kokuyou.

Lets go. The old man went out, carrying a broom.

The place he led her to was enclosed in the middle of the lake. There were floating weeds on the water. It wasnt a place where you can sit down to fish; theres no one who would come here by choice.

Maomao grimaced at the muddy ground. She took off her shoes and pulled up her skirts to walk. The old man did the same, lifting his hakama as he walked.

The water was murky. There was nothing pillar-like to be seen.

Here. The old man handed the broom to Maomao. She brushed the water with the handle. And when she did so.

The broom hit something with a clack. She knew that the thing was considerably solid even through the broom. It wasnt wood; It felt like something harder and heavier.

The maidens were sunk into this lake in the name of sacrifice. They had weights drag them to the bottom of the water while they were still alive, the old man said.

Although it was a customary practice, it must have been a disgusting spectacle for the villages who watched on.  And so they did something meaningless to repent and ask for forgiveness.

The stone pillars in the lake, those are graves.

.

Isnt it a folly? Because they regretted that they did themselves if they see it, they built it just so it is high enough to not be seen on the surface of the water.

And so, from the number of drowned sacrifices, the gravestones eventually reached up to the shrine.

When the next offering of the sacrifice was decided, the son of the village chief told the sacrificial maiden about the existence of those gravestones.

And it was said that, by using the existence of the guardian of the lake against them, the maiden was elevated to a priestess.

It seems the previous village chief had known nothing about that. As far as what Maomao saw with the state of the village, the one who knew about this now, would have to be just this old men, right?

Maomao glowered at the old man. You have a rough idea as to who the witch doctor is, seeing how you know this much, right?

The old man had known from the start. And he kept silent about it. Maomao who had taken it upon herself to explain her speculation was now like an idiot.

I didnt see their face. Im not confident.

It was likely that they had some relation to the former priestess who didnt come back from the inner palace. They could be the priestess daughter, her grandchild, or someone who heard about the story.

No matter who they were, it didnt have anything to do with Maomao. Even for this old man, it was a behaviour from the distant past. Does he have something with that former priestess person who was brought into the inner palace in the past? The instant she imagined that juicy story, her head got hazy, but lets not mention it.

She didnt want him to say that she didnt have any emotions any more than this.

If you dont make too many weird movements, Ill disclose the trick to you, After saying that, the old man took out a cloth pouch from his breast pocket. He handed that to Maomao. Its a bribe to secrecy. Ill leave this case to you.

There were some seeds in the pouch. They were probably tobacco seeds.

.

Since Maomao got what she wanted to get, she didnt have any need to say anymore. She kept silent, pocketed the seeds, then decided to return to the hut.