Chapter 1474 - 1436: Thirteen Cherry Blossom Village

Since arriving in this world, an unseen force has automatically attached itself to the three of them, without knowing the reason or origin...

Although Lann didn’t feel any malice from this force through his Body Light.

But to be cautious, he still wanted to find a local or look up information about this world to see what this force was all about.

If it’s some sort of ’self-defense mechanism’ of this world, it would be better to know early to handle it sooner.

Holding the thought of solving the confusion and hidden danger, Lann rode the Qilin down from the cliff, changed direction, and prepared to approach the village from the front gate.

Through the Qilin’s high-speed movement, Lann had almost figured out the general layout of the village.

This place should indeed be from a period similar to ancient Japan.

The reason it’s said to be ’similar’ is that Lann had clearly discovered the existence of supernatural forces in this world, thus only considering it a world with cultural backgrounds somewhat similar to his home world.

The deepest part of the village, without a doubt, was the giant cherry blossom tree they saw when they came out of the Celestial Sphere Convergence Rift.

As the indigenous religion of Japan, Shintoism believes in ’animism.’

That is, mountains, rivers, and even man-made objects used for a long time have their own spirituality and power. Therefore, it is normal for a giant cherry blossom tree to be an object of worship.

Outside the courtyard where the cherry blossom tree was located, there was a small Divine Hall in the side hall, which should also be the residence of someone like the village chief or a high-status priest.

The village was not large, but surprisingly populated and quite lively.

Lann guessed it should be related to the village’s livelihood.

The latter half of the village was a rather large graveyard, about the same size as the residential area, indicating that the village had existed peacefully for a long time.

Otherwise, such a large cemetery would not have been accumulated.

Could this still be considered a relatively stable era?

Lann thought aimlessly.

Although he clearly knew the existence of extraordinary powers in this world, Lann didn’t know the exact manifestations of these powers.

Therefore, to prevent frightening others, he had Rong Buqiu and the Qilin stay at a distance, while he ventured into the village alone.

The dirt road, fortunately, hadn’t turned into a muddy mess because of recent dry weather.

Lann walked while muttering the Japanese fifty sounds that he rushed to learn in Iwami.

"They should be speaking Japanese... right?"

They were indeed speaking Japanese.

When Lann was still a little distance from the village gate, he could already hear the conversation of a few people at the entrance.

"Oh! Lord Shantian Fang! Are you here to do business again?"

"Ah, who doesn’t want food these days? I currently have about a hundred extra bushels of rice. My cart isn’t enough, so I wanted to see if you have any spare carts to allocate."

"Your business is really growing bigger and bigger."

Two gatekeepers, presumably the village’s defense team or something, and another person who seemed like a traveling merchant.

Behind the merchant were two wooden carts pulled by horses, piled high. They could barely move, slow and dangerous, and had to be offloaded onto other carts.

The so-called ’bushel’ is a cylindrical container made of straw and hemp rope, used for storing and transporting grain.

The size isn’t standardized, not precise, just used as a unit of measure by the person here.

"Heh heh, I heard there are no horse carts." The gatekeeper joked, "Do you want a bullock cart, Lord Shantian Fang?"

The two gatekeepers were wearing only a shirt each, single trousers on their legs, with fabric strips tied around their calves as leg guards, and three-forked straw sandals on their feet.

Wearing a forehead protector with iron inserts, with simple armor made of scattered iron pieces on the upper body.

While joking and talking with the merchant, their legs in single trousers rubbed against each other. Their feet without tabi inside the straw sandals looked like they were scraping mud.

The weather in this area was not severe, even in January and February, the temperature was not too low. Yet this attire, saying it’s not cold, it can’t be true either.

Even native villagers would instinctively rub for warmth.

"Don’t joke with me." Shantian Fang waved his hand dismissively, "Only nobles can afford bullock carts, should I use it to haul goods? Am I not earning money?"

"Hey!" The gatekeeper hugged the long spear in his arms and said, "Our Thirteen Cherry Blossom Village can easily fatten up horse and bullock carts brought by merchant teams from elsewhere, without losing weight! You know this, which is why bullock carts might be cheaper here."

The gatekeeper next to him chimed in with a smile: "How about trying it? As a merchant, you can ride a bullock cart, just like a noble! Buy it for style!"

The working livestock fears losing weight the most.

For someone who lives off farming, if they had a bull, its weight loss would be more serious than their own.

And those who borrow bulls as a form of credit, if the bulls they loaned out lost weight, they’d trouble the borrower for sure.

So in Thirteen Cherry Blossom Village, if working horses and bulls are truly less prone to losing weight than elsewhere, they could indeed be cheaper than in other places.

Shantian Fang was somewhat tempted, mainly by the phrase ’just like a noble,’ which felt very enticing to him.

But before he could express this urge, he suddenly saw the two Thirteen Cherry Blossom Village gate guards in front of him becoming tense.

Their originally casually held long spears were now clumsily gripped in their hands, set with the spearheads turned outward in a combat stance.

"What? What’s happening?"

Shantian Fang didn’t even turn his head as he quickly bent over and squeezed past the two gate guards, hurriedly asking.

In contrast, the carters on the two horse-drawn carts behind him were much slower, taking a full three to four seconds before they also hastily jumped off the carts, rolling and crawling towards the village.

"Is it a demon?!"

A gatekeeper soldier muttered with a tremble.

"In broad daylight?" Another gatekeeper soldier’s voice trembled even more, "A demon, coming now?"

Seeing a figure from afar wasn’t usually something worth paying attention to.

But crucially, they had been guarding the village for quite a while, watching the scene outside the village gate every day, and had built their own frame of reference internally.

For instance, that big rock.

Ordinary people passing by the rock would be considered quite tall if their head could be level with the rock.

And how about that figure?!

The rock barely reached the figure’s chest!

The seemingly ordinary and distant figure sent a chill down their spines once a size comparison formed.

That probably isn’t a human!

"Lord Kikuchi, he’s in the village today, right?"

"Yeah, yeah! Kikuchi Sensei didn’t leave today!" The gatekeeper soldier’s voice suddenly gained some steadiness, "We can ring the bell to call the Sensei! He’s a powerful warrior who can exorcise entities from the World of the Living!"

A bell rang out, and the entire village instantly became more noisy.

Lann, who was steadily approaching, furrowed his brow... it seems like a peaceful village on the surface, but is it really so easily startled?

That’s not quite normal.

But to show he bore no hostility, Lann only approached a few more steps then stood still after the bell rang.

It took quite some time before a small group of people emerged chaotically from the village gate, dressed similarly to the gatekeeper soldiers, holding spears or swords.

Among the group, a conspicuous man with a shaved topknot approached Lann hesitantly after observing for a while with his hand resting on his sword hilt.

The closer he got, the more the man’s doubts and hesitation transformed into bewilderment at the situation.

When he stood fully in front of Lann, the man who had previously looked ready for battle now showed no trace of resolute killing intent in his expression.

Instead, his demeanor resembled more of ’hoping this person doesn’t trouble me’.

The change in these emotions was very apparent to Lann.

After all, the former’s first reaction is to fight, while the latter’s first reaction is to negotiate.

"This... uh, Lord?"

He seemed uncertain how to address Lann, so while discreetly eyeing the Demon Hunter, he hesitated and tentatively began.

"May I ask who you are...?"

Kikuchi Daisuke truly felt bewildered; he had never seen someone like this before!

Lann’s 2.5-meter height and perfectly matching physique. To be honest, Kikuchi Daisuke had never seen anyone like this even in front of the Buddhist Hall’s Bodhisattva statues!

The flesh and blood person before him had delicate and fair skin, clearly indicating noble origins.

His face was strikingly handsome, almost otherworldly; if Kikuchi Daisuke hadn’t seen it close up as he approached, he likely would have stared blankly.

His armor was heavy, its style new yet slightly fierce, but Kikuchi Daisuke wasn’t unlearned.

Instead of focusing on the armor’s style, he cared more about how much the whole set would cost and what such an amount of money signified in terms of status and background.

"You don’t need to call me ’Lord’, we don’t have a hierarchical relationship. I am Lann."

"Lord... your full name is ’Lann’?" Kikuchi Daisuke blinked, seemingly thinking hard, "Are you, from the Ming Country?"

Japanese commoners didn’t have family names, but no matter how he looked at Lann, with such aura and demeanor, he couldn’t possibly be a nameless peasant.

The Demon Hunter blinked as well, then mechanically nodded.

The other side of the sea here, is it also called the Ming Country?

"Um... yes! I’m from the Ming Country, trained among the Southern Barbarians and locally."

As he spoke, Lann’s lips curled into a smile tinged with nostalgia.

He remembered the first time he arrived in Iwami, he introduced himself just so.

When he looked at the warrior from the village, he saw that his sword and attire were similar to the standard style of Iwami Country from before.

The style of clothing and weapons can reflect the era indirectly.

Kikuchi Daisuke was momentarily dazzled by that smile and then even more stunned after hearing Lann’s introduction.

He understood the words individually, but together... what a hodgepodge?

Kikuchi Daisuke internally expressed the same sentiment shared by the people of Iwami Country before.

Nonetheless, this person did not seem to be a demon.

Kikuchi Daisuke could only make this most superficial assessment at the moment.

For when he approached Lann, he didn’t feel uncomfortable like when encountering a demon.

Although he had only faced a couple of hungry ghosts before, without a doubt, he was the most experienced person in the Thirteen Cherry Blossom Village. He’s a warrior after all!

"I am Kikuchi Daisuke!"

With great vigor, he bowed while announcing.

"Under the command of City Lord Ando Shouji of Iwamura Castle, and instructor of Thirteen Cherry Blossom Village."