The Sword Deity in Tokyo-Chapter 286: Human Skin

Kimura Kazuki darted down at supersonic speed, whizzing past the group of villagers who were climbing downhill. He was able to swiftly locate the lady who delivered the message among them at the mountainside.

The person at the front of the crowd was none other than Ryouhei Sakagami, who had also traveled down the mountain extremely quickly. He had a scar on his face and was staggering as he walked, it was apparent that he had fallen down during his hasty journey down. Fortunately, he did not land on anything sharp, or else, he would pay with his life.

Kimura Kazuki did not approach them to greet them. Instead, he merely followed them silently from behind.

It was clear from the previous encounter that Eririn Sakagami greatly detested outsiders like them. Thus, questioning her would be useless. Furthermore, as the husband and wife were mourning for their son, he would simply be given the cold shoulder.

As he trailed behind them, they soon reached the foot of the mountain.

Kimura Kazuki suppressed his breathing to mute his existence but a single look was enough to see that he did not belong here. Some even ogled at him with bewilderment, wondering how this young man caught up with them even though they departed first.

However, everyone was too busy to chat with him. 

Tarou Sakagami and Granny Sakagami may have harbored the intention to hide the truth, but so did everyone else in the village. The ominous incident had cast a sepulchral shadow upon Sakagami Village. Moreover, the curse had been asphyxiating all the villagers since they were born. Now, they no longer cared if other people in the world were to find out about it. After all, they were all normal humans too if the curse was removed.

Even if we cannot dispel the curse, surely there isn't a life that is more miserable than being eternally cursed? 

Kimura Kazuki noticed that the villagers were standing outside of Ryohei Sakagami's house, and those who were closer to him had followed him inside. Thus, he simply walked in calmly. A few villagers felt slightly embarrassed when they saw how composed he was. Why are we so cowardly, when this young man isn't even scared? We are already cursed anyway, there is nothing for us to be afraid of.

Ryohei Sakagami's house was filled with people in no time. 

The moment Kimura Kazuki stepped into the house, his attention was instantly drawn toward the person lying on the ground. Truth be told, this could no longer be called a person. Skin and bones would be a more accurate description, as the remnant was merely a skeleton that was plastered by grey human skin. It seemed like a bundle of wrinkled human skin that was glued to the floor, with dark, empty eye sockets. Its mouth was ajar, revealing the hollow inside because all the teeth had fallen off. He frowned as he scanned around the room, failing to find any abnormalities or unusual aura.

However, it was clear as day that all of the person's blood was drawn from the body, thus causing his demise.

Or could be said that… It was sucked dry? He recalled that the Koumori Tsukumogami possessed the ability to manipulate blood. If it was not for his swift reaction, he would have fallen into its deadly trap.

The other villagers were absolutely horrified and burst into an uproar when they saw the object on the ground. The more timid individuals gently patted their chest to calm themselves after the shock, having been almost frightened to death. When everyone had regained their senses, they looked at the skin and bones on the ground again and broke into fervent discussions with troubled expressions. 

"This is… Yuuta?"

"I can't even recognize him!"

"Majin… It must be the Majin's doing! We destroyed the ancestor's seal, so now the Majin is taking his revenge against us!"

The inhabitants of Sakagami Village turned ghastly pale, but they were not completely intimidated yet.

"If it really is the Majin, why did it murder people stealthily? That Majin has to be quite weak, otherwise, we would all be dead by now. After all, it only started to exact revenge after a year. "

"Yes! We must rally together! Isn't the ceremony to dispel the curse tomorrow? Maybe the Majin has been using the power of the curse to kill people. If we remove the curse, then there will be no need for us to be scared of the Majin anymore!"

The villagers zealously chattered among themselves without paying heed to the presence of an outsider like Kimura Kazuki.

Kimura Kazuki had an epiphany when he heard about the curse and its previous traditions. Suddenly, every piece of the situation surrounding Sakagami Village came together.

The village was cursed by the Majin, forcing the villagers to fear daylight and to move only at night. Perhaps there were other negative effects unbeknown to him.

Did the chief of Sakagami Village evacuate them from the village simply because he wants to perform the ceremony to dispel the curse tomorrow? 

However, one of the villagers suddenly died in an unusual death a day before the curse dispelling ceremony. 

Woo… Woo… Woo...

As Kimura Kazuki was deep in his thoughts, he heard someone crying. He raised his head and saw that Ryouhei Sakagami was crouching on the ground, tearfully looking at the shriveled human skin.

The villagers went to console him when they saw Ryouhei Sakagami's tears because they felt that they were in a similar situation of being cursed. Now that his son had died, they felt extremely anxious as well.

Soon, Tarou Sakagami and his people arrived, followed by Sei Shigeru and a few others.

Harunaka hurriedly went beside her senior. She now had the ability to see in the dark after practicing it. However, she shuddered intensely in astonishment when she saw the human skin in front of her, and hastily covered her mouth as she gasped in horror. Although Asuka and Mei were more experienced than Harunaka, their faces turned ghastly pale too when they saw the grotesque sight.

Sei Shigeru approached Kimura Kazuki and stood in front of him. Then, both of them exited the room. Kimura Kazuki later told him about all the news that he heard from the villagers. 

Sei Shigeru understood him clearly and said, "It seems that the chief of Sakagami Village doesn't want to let us know that their village is cursed." He looked at Kimura Kazuki and asked, "Kimura-sama, do you have any clue about the murderer who killed the person inside the house?"

Kimura Kazuki shook his head, replying, "No, but I think it is highly probable that the killer is the silhouette that I saw at midnight previously. Yuuta's blood was completely sucked dry until his body turned into this state. The person that I saw was also biting a rabbit and feasting on its blood…" Of course, it would be easy to find the killer if they had let him handle the human skin. 

In his previous life, there was an Enchanted Talisman named Murderer Pursuing Talisman. It was created by a teacher from the Enchanted Talisman Division using the Spirit Immobilizing Talisman that he invented as the inspiration. 

The Murderer Pursuing Talisman must be drawn using the blood from the victim's corpse. This type of Enchanted Talisman would help the police to find the murderer as it was the latest version. However, it seemed that Yuuta's blood had been completely sucked empty, thus drawing the newest version of the talisman would be out of the question.

Luckily, he could still utilize other components of the dead body if there was no blood left. By grinding them into powder and adding it to an Enchanted Talisman, he could still track the killer. However, this was the first version of the Murderer Pursuing Talisman, and the method of making it was less humane. 

However, it was obvious that Ryouhei Sakagami would never allow him to handle the human skin on the ground.

Sei Shigeru sighed exasperatedly when he heard it, and lamented with a frown on his face. "It seems that we can only wait for him to leave for the curse removing ceremony tomorrow? Judging from the current situation, the Majin is evidently trying to prevent the ceremony from being held. Otherwise, why would it start killing people?"

Kimura Kazuki nodded, obviously in agreement.

Unfortunately, the reason that the Majin covertly murdered the villagers is exactly this.

The chief of Sakagami Village and Granny Sakagami came out from Ryouhei Sakagami's house, as muffled wailing could still be heard echoing from within.

"You want to ask about Sakagami Village, right? I can tell you, but I hope you can protect the villagers for the next two days."

The chief of Sakagami Village approached them and hesitated for quite some time, slowly opening his mouth only after being persuaded by Granny Sakagami.