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In the morning, Jakuchō steps into the warm sun. Her blindness makes her oblivious to the storm that again gathers on the horizon, and her naivety conceals how close your inner demons were in winning out in the night. Now in the bright sun, the dark thoughts slumber, and you can clearly see that you cannot spend another night here. Hopefully, Yuki comes today to save you from yourself.
"Tonight I slept without a leak in my roof, I have you to thank for that swordsman. I do not wish it, but I must swallow my pride and request your help today as well."
She almost smiles, and that is enough for you.
Today she opens her shrine to you, and requests your aid repairing rotten wood in the walls and floor boards. Another task for a man with a stout arm. You are not a craftsmen by any means, but the work comes to you as innately as swinging a sword. Ah, your sword. Your hand cramps at the mention of it. The work keeps your mind occupied, but never can you escape the longing.
Inside the small shrine you see an even smaller kitchen area and a improvised spot where its keeper sleeps. Mostly it is occupied by a large shrine to some unknown god. And what a shrine it is! On it stands a relic from a bygone era, a secret treasure onto itself, carved partially from jade there is a possibly it was imported. It is a mighty green dragon, and its hollow eyes see right into yours. No matter where you stand in the shrine, they ominously seem to follow you. It comes to your mind that Jakuchō may have never even seen the treasure that sits in her own shrine.
"This mighty Kami is Ryūjin, there once was a time that this city was connected to the sea by four great rivers. This god of the sea was worshipped here, they feared his anger as they loved his kindness. Overtime, the rivers were forded, and the route changed to make room as the village turned into a town, then into a city. He is now blind to what happens here."
"Then why do you still maintain this shrine to him?"
"I often ask myself the same swordsman. But he has taken me in when else I would have surely died, I cannot abandon his shrine until he returns to claim it."
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