Reincarnation into the Barrier Master

"Okay, let's go!"

"Ugh~ I don't want to go..."

I drag the reluctant Gon out of the house and come to the shrine in the backyard. The White Foxes' triennial evaluation contest. If I don't go, Gon will lose his ability. That must be avoided.

I'll do my best to make a statement about Gon. I don't know what kind of attitude the princess will take, but at the worst, I'm prepared to go to war with the fox god.

However, I don't want to pick a fight unnecessarily. I want to keep this as civilized as possible, so I've already taken measures to that end. Both the princess and the courtesan are women. So, the "souvenir strategy" will be effective. In my previous life, I used to escape from difficulties by bringing various sweets to deal with the "bureaucrats.

So I have been making o-hagi (bean-starch dumplings) and abura-age (fried bean curd) frantically since the day before. During this time, the o-hagi and fried bean curd that I had offered to the shrine disappeared without a trace. I made a large quantity of these two, believing that they were probably well-liked. If they didn't like them, they could eat them with me and the harpies.

We both stand in front of the shrine. For a moment, everything goes blank. We find ourselves standing in front of the gates of a large house.

The gate opens without a sound. Inside, we see a Japanese-style building and an entrance. At the entrance sits a fox dressed like one of the three courtesans of the Hina dolls. As we approach,

"We have been waiting for you."

He bowed his head politely and led us in quietly. Gon is completely baffled, but the lady does not pay any attention to us and leads us on our way. Surprisingly, my map doesn't respond here. Is there a ward against us?

Soon we are led to the hall. The back of the room was covered by a big curtain, and two courtesans were waiting in front of it. We entered the room and sat down in front of them.

"Oh, my God, the man I sent to the kingdom of Juka has returned!

"How dare you come back! Did you wash your head?

The women laugh and laugh at each other. The first punch flies out of the blue. Gong has fallen completely flat. He's been through quite a trauma.

"You have a companion with you, don't you? You do not know the etiquette, but I will allow you to say your name. Please, say your name.

I bow down with a "aha" and say a few words. I used a Kabuki speech as a reference.

"Koza, koza ga ou ga, koza koza ga, but I am going to say this in a slurred manner. First of all, it gives me great pleasure to see your beautiful faces. The gentleman you see is Rinos, who resides in the empire of Heedata. I am here today accompanied by the white fox who is waiting for me. I come to you today, despite my rudeness, for I am a man of few words. I know that there may be many things that I have to say to you, but I would like to ask for your kind attention and your cooperation.

"...Oh. How polite of you. At any rate, it seems you've learned some manners.

Okay, first gate cleared! I'll fold up here.

"Since we are not good with our mouths, we have brought you some food that we have prepared ourselves. We are sorry that this food is for the consumption of lowly people, but we would be grateful if you would accept it with smile.

A large amount of o-hagi (bean curd) and abura-age (fried bean curd) are taken out of the endless storage. I hear sighs from the court ladies.

"These are the ones we had as an offering the other day. They were delicious. Such a large amount of it.... You're a lovely man. Leave it to us. I'll send word to the princess immediately."

These are surprisingly simple-minded women. The courtesans in front of the curtain turned toward it and prostrated themselves before it, saying, "Let the princess come. The curtain slid open.

There was a huge fox. It really had nine tails, whirling in a circle. Its fur is silver rather than white. It has a divine air about it. Gon is rubbing his head against the floor with a heh heh heh heh. I bow my head to the floor, too.

"Hmm. You're the one who sent me to Juka. I've heard the details. By all rights you're unworthy of being my lady... But since you are a humble one, I'll forgive you. From now on, you will work harder."

Heh heh heh heh heh, and even more fearful Gong. The stench of petty tricks is now in full force. As I was relieved that I was somehow forgiven, I heard the court ladies nodding toward Ohiisama.

"We'll get rid of them. It's hard to talk here. You two, go to the back."

The curtain slides smoothly down. It seems to call us into another room. Another courtesan reappears and leads us to another room. When we come to the hallway

I can only show you so far. The back room is at the end of this corridor. Please come with me.

With that, he disappeared. We crossed the hallway and headed for the back room.

"Oh no! I'm glad the ladies didn't give me a hard time.

"You made it through. I guess the souvenir strategy was one of the reasons for our success.

Thank God! By the way, the princess is always beautiful. I wish I could have a princess like her for a wife. That would be nice... Even if it's only for three days..."

What are you talking about? You're my family! You're a family man! Go home and buy a whore!

While we were talking nonsense like this, we came to a back room. I opened the shoji (paper sliding door) with trepidation, and found two cushions on the floor. I sat down, and the sliding door opened without a sound. In the back of the room, there sat the himeisama.

"I called them here for you, of all people. In fact, I have a favor to ask of you.

I smell trouble.

"The offerings we made the other day, the o-hagi and abura-age. I don't eat them every day. Can you make an offering to me once a week? Not for free, of course. I'll pay you a certain amount of money, okay?"

"That's very kind of you, but in the meantime, are you sure you will allow me to do this Gong?"

"Yes. I've seen everything you've done. You would have to be a great demon king to kill 80,000 humans. Killing humans, even your own kind, gives you experience. If you kill 80,000 humans, your experience will be terrible. That's why your skills have increased excessively.

I see. I see.

It was not the fox but your own heart that subdued the great demon king. I'm more pleased with myself for hunting down the fox Piaolan. That piece of shit, that foreigner's pissant has desecrated my concubine. Not only that, he also killed several of my household members. It was a great joy to see Piaolan destroyed.

I see. I see. Did you not just hear a tremendous amount of words?

"Therefore, he is forgiven. More importantly, the rice balls! Abura-age! Even a mistress who has lived over 10,000 years has never tasted that before. It's a shame to give it to the maids. Bring it directly to me."

You're a princess with a big appetite. That's all right, isn't it?

"Oh! Will you accept? Superduperduperduperduperduperduperduperduperduperduperduperduperduperd. Since you've received so much, I shall bestow upon you my blessings. I will also raise your education. What? That's a lot of titles. This one's a bit trickier, but... here..."

The princess's body glows. And I get a "blessing level 5" and a "cultivation level 5".

"Kago" can give or take away one's skills to others. Basically, you can only give and take away skills lower than your own level, but you can take and give skills of the same level from lvl. 4. As the level of "culture" increases, the player can communicate with other races. You interact with various species, don't you? It's useful to have."

Oh! What a big deal!

"At level 5, you will receive a title, but since your various skills have reached the divine level, they have been combined to give you a unique skill. It was difficult for me to give you these skills to you. Perhaps I can no longer change your skills.

I didn't know titles had such characteristics. Hmm? Gon doesn't have a title, but...

"This man is my concubine's servant, so he does not have a title."

I see. I see.

"Thanks to the skills I've given him, I've been able to make a lot of money. I've lost a lot of my M! Oh, giving or taking skills from others costs a lot of M! Be careful. It's been a long time since I had a lot of M! I'm tired. This is the end of the granting of skills for this time. Chie and Saae, if others come, turn them away.

Yes, sir," said the voices of the ladies. Are you sure you want to do that?

"By the way, when you came to this room a few minutes ago, you said some strange words. What do you mean by "inbaikae"?

This is... hard to answer.

"Well, we, the lower class, go home to rest and relax, that's called 'inbaikae'."

"Oh, I see."

Somehow I managed to fake it. And then we went back to the house. I have to make fried bean curd and fried bean curd soon.

The next day, a visitor came to the house. An old fox named Sandille.

He is the second oldest fox after Ohiisama, aged over 6,000 years, and his condescending attitude and scholarly demeanor are admired even by the courtesan.

The princess had a hard time with Sandille. She would complain about his bad posture, his dirty language, his lack of study, and so on. I've always wanted to remind this old fox of my competence one day.

"It's a pleasure to see your beautiful face, Sandille."

"It's a great honor to serve you in your old age. I'm not bothered, just go back and buy a whore."

Sandille then spent a week in bed. For reasons unknown, the princess enjoyed her unexpected free time.