Era of Breakdown

Yaeji licked his chapped lips and swallowed subconsciously, but there was no sweetness to moisten his throat.

The girl with ear-length pink hair...the boy looked towards the highest point on the hillside, with a trace of disappointment in his blue and purple eyes.

"That's right. The water in the river has dried up. If the cherry blossom trees can still bloom, then it's a ghost."

The delicate boy murmured in a low voice, and occasionally raised his eyes to glance at the hillside, as if he wanted to wait for a miracle to come.

"How should I tell Rin? When the cherry blossoms were blooming the year before last... I seemed to be sleeping under the tree?" Yae Ji recalled carefully, and soon he arrived at the top of the hillside.

Looking around, there was a bare branch, and the ground underfoot was cracked in some places. Not to mention the cherry blossoms all over the sky, not even a single petal could be seen. Yaeji looked at the ground pitifully with a sad face.

Yaeji touched the small bag he carried with him. He had promised Rin before that he would fill a small bag of cherry blossoms and take it back. Now this plan can be said to be completely ruined.

"Click~"

The slender branches lost their former toughness and easily broke when picked casually.

Withered. If there was moisture, Yaeji would have to use all his strength to break off these branches.

The sun was high in the sky. Originally, the season when cherry blossoms were blooming was far less hot, but without the supply of water, a thin layer of sweat had already appeared on Yaeji's white forehead.

Almost all the cherry blossom trees on the hillside are like this. There are bare branches all over the mountain, without any life, and it looks very desolate.

Yaeji found a stone and sat down, touched the small bag tied around his waist, and held his cheeks with both hands, his little face full of sadness.

"How to explain to Rin?"

The cherry blossom trees planted in the shrine were not in bloom, so he vowed to his sister, who was seriously ill at home, that he would come back filled with cherry blossoms from the mountain.

"Ah~"

His little hands frantically rubbed his hair, making a mess of his beautiful pink hair.

"Ahhh!——"

Yaeji was stunned, he didn't scream so loudly. His little face was full of alertness. I don’t know when there were more and more ferocious beasts roaming outside the village. Every time he left the village, he would carry a special sachet from the shrine to cover up his smell.

‘Who is so careless? ’

Yaeji glanced at the village at the foot of the mountain, and then identified the source of the screams. He gritted his teeth and cautiously dived towards the source of the screams.

The hillside was too far from the village. By the time he ran over and informed his father, the villagers would be done with it! As a member of the village who serves the gods, he naturally has the responsibility to protect the village. This is the idea that his father has instilled in him since he was a child.

Of course... when he sees that the form is wrong, he won't go up stupidly.

Holding down the training wooden sword slung on his waist with his left hand, Yaeji bent his waist and looked for it after hearing the sound.

Through the bare cherry trees and other withered plants, Yaeji stuck out half of his head and looked down the mountain.

A huge, bear-like ferocious beast bit the young man's upper body and shook him wildly!

Yaeji's pupils narrowed.

There are obvious purple crystals on the limbs of the "Bear". Under the sunlight, those crystals faintly reflect the pink light, which is particularly beautiful.

Yaeji doesn't think so.

That's a monster! The villagers of Yae Village call them ‘monsters’! These monsters are extremely powerful. The last shrine maiden who protected the village died at the claws of monsters.

Yaeji's little face turned pale slightly. He thought it was an ordinary ferocious beast, but he never thought it was this kind of monster! This hillside is close to the village. Once the patrol team in the village finds a monster, it will notify the shrine to deal with it.

However, there were generally no monsters around the village, and there were quite a lot of slightly larger beasts. If he had a sharp blade in hand, he would dare to step forward and fight them.

But the monster......

Yaeji vaguely remembered that when the monster was killed for the first time in the village, people happily carried the monster's body back to the village. In this era, it was rare to have the opportunity to eat meat, and the ferocious beasts that appeared outside the village from time to time were rare delicacies.

People only thought that monsters were larger and more ferocious beasts. After eating at the barbecue...some villagers turned gray and turned into monsters that could only attack people! There are also some villagers whose physiques have been slightly enhanced, but will still turn into monsters after using too much meat.

The monster has no consciousness and only attacks humans. Father said that it is the hatred of the dead monster that is causing trouble.

Yaeji didn't know whether it was true or false, and he couldn't tell anything apart.

According to common sense, he should return to the village as soon as possible to tell his father and let him lead the young men to kill the monsters.

But Yaeji didn't dare to move, his pupils contracted to the extreme! This was the first time he saw a monster eating a human!

The smell of blood easily covered up the smell of dust. The body lying on the ground remained motionless. The monster devoured the man completely with just a few mouthfuls.

After the monster left, another ten minutes passed before Yaeji dared to get up.

When he came here, the bear-shaped monster was biting the man's upper body and shaking it wildly, as if something flew out of his pocket and fell to the side.

And... apart from the screams, he could only understand roughly what the man said.

Even the poor man's clothes were very different from theirs.

"Why do outsiders come here?"

Yaeji walked towards the pool of blood. Apart from torn pieces of clothes, not even a single bone was left at the scene.

The blood droplets splashed in the blood pool and other places always reminded Yae Ji of the ferocity of monsters when they bite people. Holding back the discomfort in his stomach, Yae Ji looked for the flying shadow.

Not far away, Yaeji found the "black shadow" under a dead tree. It was a strange rectangular thing. It must have been thrown out of the man's pocket and hit the tree trunk before falling.

Yaeji saw some familiar pictures from the strange rectangular object above.

"Roar!--"

The roar of a ferocious beast was heard in the distance. Yaeji immediately stuffed the strange rectangular object into a small bag and turned back up the mountain road from where he came. Don't think too much, it seems that the smell of blood will attract many ferocious beasts.

All the way back to the top of the mountain, Yaeji could see the scene in the village from above, and Yaeji felt relieved. Take the odd rectangular object out of the pouch.

"ah?!"

One side of the weird rectangle is shining with light, and the people on the picture...

"Sakura?! Why is Sakura in there?"

Yaeji's little face turned pale with shock. Isn't this much better than seeing a monster eating a human?

"Sakura won't be sealed in such an evil box, right?!"

"That's not right!" Yaeji took a few deep breaths and looked carefully at the evil long box in his hand.

Sakura is his sister. They have been living together since childhood. How could he not know her?

Although the girl sealed in the evil box is very similar to Sakura, Sakura is obviously much smaller than her!

What's even more bizarre is that the "Sakura" sealed in the evil box actually has a pair of pink donkey ears!

The girl "Sakura" is wearing the shrine maiden costume of Yae Village Shrine, which surprises and delights Yaeji.

"Are you Sakura?"

"Why don't you speak?"

"Are you sealed inside?"

"If you are sealed in there, just blink your eyes and I will find a way to get you out!"

"Sakura" in the evil long box still didn't speak. Yaeji became anxious and suddenly touched some button with his little hand.

A strange music suddenly came from the evil box!

Yae Ji shook his little hand and almost threw the evil box out.

Yae Ji suddenly remembered the legends of various monsters in the shrine. Could it be that the "Sakura" in the evil long box was actually transformed by a monster that deceived people's hearts?

Yae Ji glanced at the evil long box with fear, stretched out his little hand and "touched" the pair of "donkey ears".

"Um?"

The girl "Sakura" in the picture suddenly changed her posture, and the expression on her pretty face turned into one of disgust. She stood sideways with her hands folded in front of her chest, and an unknown black gas came out of her body!

"The captain's supplies are all guaranteed, and the captain's copy will drop zero."

...