Chapter 25: Grand Narukami Shrine

Chapter 25: Grand Narukami Shrine         

Huff… huff…

Bai Luo found himself in a strange, chilling state.

His mind was awake, but his body?

Completely unresponsive.

He couldn’t move—not even a twitch of his fingers.

He couldn’t scream—his throat felt sealed shut, as if his very voice had been swallowed whole.

Even breathing… became harder and harder.

A creeping, wet coldness seeped into his skin, wrapping around his limbs like thick seaweed.

The air grew heavy, damp, and suffocating.

‘This feeling…’

The cold, the dizziness, the helplessness—it all felt so familiar.

Just like back then… when he jumped into the river to save someone.

But why? Why was that memory returning now?

He’d always known he’d ended up in Snezhnaya after being swept away by the torrent. But until now, he’d never once remembered what the child he saved even looked like.

Why?

The only thing he could do now was struggle, pouring every ounce of strength into swimming toward the distant glimmer of light in the dark.

Maybe that light… was the water’s surface.

The closer he got, the stronger the dizziness from lack of oxygen became.

Finally, when he broke through the freezing, bone-cutting water, what greeted him wasn’t the snow-filled, gray sky of Snezhnaya—

—but the pale face of a little girl.

Her eyes stared into his—filled not only with sorrow and despair, but something else, too.

Fear.

“You’re…?”

He tried to speak.

But before he could finish—

“Kh—!”

A sharp pain stabbed into his abdomen.

His eyes snapped down.

A dagger—its blade coated in a tar-like black substance—had pierced him through.

But no… it wasn’t the dagger that was black.

It was him.

At some point, his body had become covered in a viscous, dark sludge, creeping like living mud.

That black ooze—that monster—was what he’d just swum out of.

And he was the monster now.

The dagger sapped what little strength he had left. The sludge coiled again, pulling him downward.

Back into the darkness.

As the final thread of light disappeared from his vision, he thought he heard a sharp, piercing cry—like the call of a crane.

. . . . . . .

“Nngh… what time is it?”

Bai Luo sat up in bed, groggily rubbing his abdomen on instinct.

No wounds. No pain.

His bare stomach was smooth—untouched.

Was it really just a dream?

He’d had countless dreams before—but they always faded within minutes, lost to the tide of waking thought.

But this one… lingered.

Every detail—from the child’s terrified face to the dagger’s cold bite—remained vivid.

Too vivid.

“If I didn’t know better… I’d swear I really got stabbed,” he thought with a wry, uneasy smile.

Just then—

Knock knock

“My lord.”

A Fatui subordinate entered upon receiving permission.

“We’ve delivered your manuscript to Editor Kuroda at the Yae Publishing House, just as you instructed.”

At the mention of the manuscript, the subordinate’s expression twitched slightly.

That… manuscript.

Its contents had made him break into cold sweat when he first glanced at it.

Was it really okay to write like that?

In Snezhnaya, anyone who dared write about Her Majesty the Tsaritsa like that—coded language or not—wouldn’t live to see the next sunrise.

“Oh? What did the editor say?”

Pouring himself a cup of hot tea, Bai Luo asked casually.

His writing wasn’t particularly refined, but the plot was fresh, bold, and unlike anything on Inazuma’s current shelves.

A guaranteed hit—if it passed the censors.

“Kuroda said… the subject matter is highly sensitive. It must be personally reviewed by Lady Yae herself. If approved, they’ll notify you.”

In the Fatui subordinate mind, Editor Kuroda was already being exceptionally merciful.

If it had been him receiving that manuscript?

He would've slammed the thing right into Bai Luo’s face—just to show him the price of blaspheming the Shogun.

“Alright, you’re dismissed. Let me know once we get a response.”

“Y-Yes, sir…”

The Fatui agent exited the room, his expression heavy with dread.

Frankly, he feared that the day they received a reply would also be the day Tenryou Commission officers dragged him away in chains.

He could only hope that his superior—kind and merciful as he was—might remember his tireless service and pull some strings to get him out.

With a long sigh, the agent vanished into the corridor.

Little did he know—the manuscript he had just handed off had already been delivered to Grand Narukami Shrine by Kuroda himself.

. . . . . . .

In the lands of Inazuma, there stood a majestic peak—Mt. Yougou.

Towering even above Tenshukaku, the Shogun’s own citadel, Mt. Yougou reigned as one of the highest mountains in the nation.

At its summit sat the spiritual heart of Inazuma: Grand Narukami Shrine.

It was said that those who harbored earnest wishes could climb its long, winding trail step by step, pass through countless torii gates, and receive a fortune from the shrine maidens—praying for the protection of the Almighty Narukami Ogosho.

Whether that wish would come true… depended entirely on whether the shrine’s high priestess found it interesting enough.

For truly amusing requests, she might even grant them herself.

But the shrine did more than offer prayers to the Electro Archon—it guarded something far older and more mysterious.

The Sacred Sakura.

No one knew the tree’s true origin. Its roots predated most historical records, and to Inazumans, it had simply always been there.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the world in hues of fiery red, Grand Narukami Shrine glowed softly under the twilight.

The crowds had finally dispersed, and the shrine maidens could finally breathe.

“Sigh… I don’t know where Sayu ran off to again, and Lady Yae has been shut in all day… Thank goodness there weren’t many visitors today, or we’d be in serious trouble.”

Kano Nana, busy sweeping piles of fallen sakura petals, couldn’t help but complain aloud.

Earlier that morning, Lady Yae had handed off all her duties and vanished into her quarters—clutching a newly arrived manuscript with barely restrained excitement.

That left poor Kano Nana to handle everything on her own.

And now, even at night, she was still cleaning up.

If not for Miss Fuyuto, who was in charge of fortunes, giving her a hand, she might still be at it until midnight.

Suddenly—

“Pffft—AHAHAHAHA!”

Another burst of unrestrained laughter came from the side room.

The shrine maidens barely flinched. They were far too used to this.

With a few tired, knowing sighs, they returned to their tasks.

“What’s gotten into Lady Yae today?” asked Maki, a fellow shrine maiden, inching closer to Kano Nana.

She had been stationed near the Sacred Sakura and hadn’t witnessed any of the day’s chaos. But surely Nana, who’d been covering for Lady Yae all day, would know.

“What else could it be? Some wild light novel showed up at Yae Publishing House. Supposedly, it’s a bit… risqué. So the editor said it needed Lady Yae’s personal approval.”

Thanks to the influence of their Head Shrine Maiden (who also happened to be the owner of the publishing house), many of the shrine maidens had developed a keen interest in light novels.

So the moment Maki heard “risqué light novel”, her eyes gleamed with excitement.

“Ooooh! What kind of story is it? Do you think it’ll get approved? When can we read it!?”

Kano Nana thought back for a moment, recalling the title that Lady Yae had chuckled over all day.

“I think it was called… My Electro Archon Can't Be This Cute.”