Chapter Twenty-Three: So What If We Hide in the Forest?

"Lord Hojo Akitoki, the forest on the hill ahead is where the demon is hiding."

Standing at a distance from where Yura of the Demon Hair was concealed, Kagome pointed toward the hill and spoke to Hojo Akitoki. After spending most of the morning riding with Inuyasha, Kagome had finally completed the task entrusted to her by Akitoki.

"I see."

Accompanied by the villagers summoned for forced labor and the majority of the Hojo troops, Akitoki smiled at Kagome. "You don't need to call me Hojo Akitoki anymore; just call me Akitoki."

In Japan, acquaintances typically address one another by their surnames—Hojo or Higurashi. Only when people become extremely close and intimate do they begin to address each other by their given names, much like how Akitoki usually referred to Akechi Mitsuhide simply as Mitsuhide.

"This..."

Hearing this, Kagome’s face flushed a deep red. She instinctively glanced at the Hojo retainers standing behind Akitoki. The young girl hadn't forgotten that before they left the Hojo army camp that morning, although these retainers hadn't expressed their dissatisfaction to her face, their gazes and attitudes had made it clear: they were far from welcoming.

"Eh?"

As she carefully observed the retainers, Kagome was surprised to find that although they were still aloof, the faint sense of hostility she had sensed earlier had vanished. Could it be? The sensitive girl immediately linked this to Akitoki, thinking he must have said something to them. A warm feeling spread through her heart.

In a voice as soft as a mosquito's hum, she shyly replied, "Lord Akitoki."

"Hahaha!"

With a hearty laugh, Akitoki affectionately ruffled Kagome’s hair, making her blush even more.

"Hey! What are you two doing? Didn't we come here to deal with a demon?"

The feeling of being treated like a third wheel was becoming unbearable, and the "green on his head" was becoming impossible to ignore. Seeing Kagome, who bore the face of Kikyo, acting like a shy young girl, Inuyasha felt a sudden, inexplicable surge of anger. Unable to stand it any longer, he began to shout loudly, as if to express his frustration and to warn Kagome not to engage in such shameless behavior while wearing Kikyo's face.

"Indeed," chimed in Kaede, who had been observing everything. When it came to matters involving Hojo Akitoki, she tended to side with Inuyasha—not because she wanted to see Inuyasha, who had been entangled with her late sister Kikyo, get involved with her reincarnation, Kagome, but because she truly could not fathom what kind of person Hojo Akitoki was.

"Lord Hojo Akitoki, the demon is in the forest on the hill ahead. As far as I know, there is a valley formed by a cliff on that hill. If the demon is indeed hiding there, it would take an hour just to walk there from this spot. Considering the hair traps the demon has laid along the way and the potential for unknown poisonous insects..."

Kaede was ostensibly detailing the dangers of the path, but in reality, she was implicitly suggesting: *With a powerful enemy right in front of us, is it really appropriate for you to be flirting with Kagome here?*

Furthermore, she cast an imperceptible glance at the villagers from the surrounding areas who had been conscripted by Akitoki. These villagers, ignorant of the true situation, had rushed over eagerly, driven only by the promise of two full meals of rice and pickles, plus two copper coins a day. Once these men, clutching their axes and saws, realized the purpose of their journey—to slay a demon lurking in the forest—they were overcome with a mixture of anxiety, nervousness, and a reluctance to leave. They were anxious because they had to face a heartless monster, and reluctant because they didn't want to lose those two meals and the copper coins.

"Everyone, do not worry. Your task is only to fell trees on the perimeter," Akitoki said, sensing the underlying meaning in Kaede’s words and turning to the villagers, who were becoming agitated.

Akitoki had not summoned these villagers to use them as cannon fodder. Apart from the fact that untrained villagers would be useless in fighting a demon inside the forest, the consequences of having a thousand villagers from a dozen villages die here would be catastrophic. The loss of able-bodied laborers would cause their villages to decline, affecting tax revenue and food production. Not to mention, most importantly, the impact on Akitoki’s own reputation. None of these were outcomes he wished to see.

"Make the arrangements. Proceed according to the plan."

After calming the villagers, Akitoki turned to Akechi Mitsuhide and ordered him to set them to work immediately. The priority was to clear a buffer zone at least 20 meters wide along the outer edge of the hill where Yura was hiding.

Seeing that the Hojo troops did not intend to drive them into the forest, and thinking of the promised meals and the copper coins, the villagers mustered their best efforts. Led by the Hojo samurai, they chanted in rhythm, hacking away at the trees on the forest's edge.

Kagome was puzzled, and both Inuyasha and Kaede were completely at a loss as to what Akitoki was planning. Was he really trying to cut down the entire forest piece by piece?

Meanwhile, hiding in a rift formed by the steep cliffs of the hill, Yura of the Demon Hair had been aware of their movements from the moment Kagome’s group started searching, thanks to the hair she had spread throughout the forest. However, after attacking the Hojo camp the previous night, her own demonic energy—or what could be considered her "mana"—had been significantly depleted. After all, she had launched wave after wave of invisible hair attacks and eventually had her avatar destroyed. She wasn't some high-level demon with infinite power, nor was she a cheater with unlimited resources. She needed time to recover.

Yura also had her own agenda. She had long since turned this hiding spot into a death trap. Relying on these prepared defenses, she wanted to make the detestable Hojo army suffer the same pain she had endured when they attacked her lair. She wanted to pay them back tenfold for how miserably she had been treated the night before. That was why she had allowed Kagome’s scouts to proceed and why she had watched the arrival of the large human force with satisfaction.

But... that was where things began to deviate from her expectations.

"What are these humans doing?" murmured the true Yura, who resided within a blood-red comb inside a nest of countless human skulls and hair.

At first, she was truly baffled by Akitoki's arrangements. *What good will cutting down those insignificant trees do? If you want to attack me, you have to enter the forest. Do you really think you can force me out of the center of the forest just by cutting down a few outer trees? And if you plan to slowly chop your way in, it’s not only laborious and time-consuming, but do you really think I’ll sit by and watch?*

*The moment any of you humans touch a tree rigged with a hair trap... hehehe...* The red comb—Yura—imagined the beautiful scene that would follow: her razor-sharp hair blades would slice those tree-chopping humans into sashimi.

"Lord Akitoki."

Time flew by. Driven by the promise of rice, pickles, and copper coins, the thousand villagers worked hard, and by early afternoon, the buffer zone Akitoki had requested was nearing completion. Looking at the felled trees and the bare strip of land encircling the forest, Kagome finally couldn't help but ask, "What should we do next?"

She blinked, hoping she wouldn't hear Akitoki order an immediate charge.

"Next? Well, naturally..."

Akitoki left the sentence hanging, raising his military fan, the *gunbai*, toward the forces behind him. A rumbling sound of wheels grinding against the ground followed, as the foot soldiers pushed forward row upon row of...