Chapter 342: Civet
Although the Moroboshi family has made great efforts to build roads, it is impossible to build roads to all villages, especially mountain villages. The cost-effectiveness is too low. With only dozens of people, it is not worth building more than ten miles of mountain roads. So after reaching the end of the path, the three of them had to climb the mountain.

Since Japan is an island country, it is mountainous. The mountains may not be high, but they are one after another, and the small paths trampled by people in the mountains appear and disappear from time to time. If you are not familiar with the terrain, it is easy to get lost. Fortunately, Asha and Oboro are both elite ninjas, so they have no problem identifying the direction and the route, and they still have the energy to look for suspicious clues.

Even the warriors in charge of patrolling such a remote mountain village rarely come here unless they need to pay taxes, so the discovery of the fox dancer was purely coincidental.

A peddler who traveled between Amano Castle and the nearby villages happened to hear about a small mountain village here. As he had some goods that had not been sold, he gritted his teeth and ventured to the mountain village. As expected, he sold some goods at a good price and exchanged them for mountain products and furs worth several times their value. However, he also found traces of sacrifices in the mountain village and a fox mask enshrined in the newly built shrine. He was immediately shocked because he had seen the wanted poster of the fox dancer.

The peddler was smart enough. It was his first time in this small mountain village, so he did not dare to sleep all night. He ran down the mountain in the dark before dawn and reported the matter.

Because there are too few clues and evidence to be completely confirmed, there are few reliable clues. Someone also reported that the calls of foxes in the mountains are different, and it is suspected that it is a fox demon. In comparison, the information from the traveling merchants is already quite reliable, so it is listed as a special investigation task.

"Something's happening. Asha, protect Izumi. I'll go take a look." As if he had sensed something, Long said this while holding a kunai upside down. He blended into the surrounding environment in a flash and disappeared. Even Asha could only barely see a shadow, not sure whether it was real or fake, swaying in the woods at the beginning.

"Be careful, something is wrong here." Asha was not a rookie either. She immediately pulled out the ninja sword on her back, protected Izumi on one side and said.

"Okay." After all, she didn't have much experience, and Izumi was a little nervous for a moment because of the two of them, but she quickly reacted and released paper figures and talismans to protect herself according to the family's teachings.

Although doing so may waste some paper figures and talismans, compared to your life, just let it go. After all, you buy them to use them.

Long quickly found the location of the mountain village, but did not see any signs of life, let alone people. Therefore, he did not advance rashly, but climbed quietly up a nearby tree.

He squinted his eyes and carefully collected information from the gaps between the dense branches and leaves. He concluded that the villagers had been missing for no more than three days, because only a few weeds had sprouted in the farmland and the soil was not dry and cracked.

Judging from the number and size of the farmhouses, Long judged that there were about thirty to fifty people living in this small mountain village, and more than half of them were young and strong.

The number of people was neither too large nor too small, but they all disappeared without any struggle or blood. This is definitely not something that ordinary people can do.

Even if a well-trained warrior wants to wipe out all the people in a mountain village, he would need at least ten people to surround them, because the environment in the mountain village is complicated and it is easy to escape, and it is not enough to just kill people.

Therefore, to achieve what is happening before their eyes, inhuman means must be used. It seems that they have found the right place.

After seeing Asha and Izumi slowly approaching, Long made a gesture, jumped down from the tree, ran quickly, used two hanging bells to lower her body, relied on the thick back beam to maintain balance, and rushed into the mountain village in a peculiar posture.

She did not hide her whereabouts by leaning against the wall. The farmhouses in the mountain village were short and thin. With Long's height and figure, she was just like Snow White who had accidentally entered the dwarfs' house. She had to hide her head and show her tail.

Moreover, most of the farmhouses were covered with straw mats and bamboo rafts, which could not even block the kunai, and would be attacked by sneak attacks because of the obstruction of vision. Therefore, Oboro was cautious to keep a certain distance from any building, and at the same time tried to collect clues about the missing villagers. After confirming that there were no enemies, Oboro made a gesture, and Asha immediately brought Izumi to the village, hoping that she could find clues with the methods of Onmyoji.

Quan Mei released more than a dozen paper figures. These paper figures seemed to be floating in the wind, but in fact they accurately drilled into the gaps in farmhouses, eaves, floors, stoves and other places that were difficult for ordinary people to observe carefully.

However, the paper figures have no intelligence, so judging the clues mainly depends on Izumi, and she lived up to everyone's expectations and really found the clues.

"Found it!" Quan Mei said excitedly, then stretched out her hand and pointed. The talismans floating around her stuck to a farmhouse like arrows, especially the two stone ball-like pillars in front of the door, one by one.

The farmhouse, which looked no different from the one next to it, seemed to be carrying a heavy burden after the talisman was stuck on it. The whole house began to twist, and the two stone balls that should have been extremely hard deflated as if they were stepped on. This became the last straw that broke the camel's back. With a pop, the farmhouse turned into a wretched civet cat with its gold and jade exposed.

"Help! It's going to break! It's going to break! I surrender! I surrender!" The raccoon cat wanted to struggle but didn't dare to, so he covered the round piece of gold and jade and begged for mercy desperately, because the talisman on it was still exerting pressure and it was about to break.

"It turned out to be a raccoon cat. I thought it was some man-eating monster that transformed into a farmhouse." Long, who had a stern expression just now, relaxed a little, because raccoon cats are one of the few monsters whose personalities are not vicious, because they prefer to play pranks, especially the raccoon cats that are good at changing their shapes, and they have played tricks on people many times.

Izumi was apparently also very familiar with monsters like the raccoon cat. She let the two talismans fall off on their own and then threw them aside in disgust.

The civet cat, which had finally recovered, lay flat on the ground, like a ball of dough with too much water in it, but its two short paws were not idle, and were still checking for injuries.

With a click, a sharp kunai pierced the raccoon's head, scaring it so much that it almost peed itself. Long, who threw the kunai, sneered and said.

"Tell me everything you know, or I'll make those two things into kendama for you."

Asha cooperated by pulling out the ninja sword, and feinted twice. Without caring about the pain in the baby, the raccoon immediately began to confess like a bamboo tube pouring beans.

This raccoon is a monster living nearby and is very familiar with the villagers here. Although it can't help playing some pranks on weekdays, such as stealing carrots and playing tricks on people, if there are wild animals coming down the mountain or villagers are lost, it will help to warn or point the way. The two sides live in peace until a strange woman appears.

"I have never seen such a scary woman. Although she is wearing a fox mask, I always feel that she is a fox. No, a scary fox demon." Doudouwan said excitedly while eating the three-colored meatballs given to it by Izumi.

"I hid in the mountains because I was scared. When I came out, I found that all the villagers had disappeared. You came at this time, and I thought you were the fox woman's accomplice, so I transformed myself into a farmhouse and wanted to wait for you to leave." Doudouwan said while sucking on a bamboo stick.

(End of this chapter)