Tanuki Rise of the Yokai Clan

Chapter 22: Fate... how annoying it is...

"Tamazuki-sama, which place should we attack again?"

"Do you like a war that much, huh?"

Tamazuki, who was eating his udon, looked at his followers helplessly.

"Of course!"

His underlings answered at the same time with a bright smile.

"Even if you lose?"

"....."

"Well, the war aside, it has been two years. Did you forget?" He tried to remind them about his fateful battle.

"Two years?"

They suddenly fell into deep thought and remembered something.

"Ah!"

Watching them suddenly realize what was going to happen, he let out a helpless sigh as he was eating his shrimp tempura, yet he couldn't help but feel melancholy, thinking that it had been two years since that day.

Two years had passed since his first meeting with the protagonist, and a lot of things had happened.

Naturally, the war he had provoked started, and without a surprise, the winner of this war was Nura Clan. However, the process wasn't easy, and many of their members died in this war. It wouldn't be weird to say that many of the high-ranking members of the Nura Clan had died, and the members of their clan had been reduced to half or even more.

In other words, the condition of the Nura Clan was miserable.

Even if the Nura Clan was able to win against the Youkai coalition group, they had become nothing but a wounded beast, a paper tiger, which was only fierce on the outside, yet on the inside, it was so weak, especially when there was also a problem on the inside of this group, which made the situation of this group became even worse.

However, the most surprising thing, Nura Rikuo, who was the protagonist, was still the same as ever. He didn't wish to become a youkai and just lived normally as a human.

Knowing this, Tamazuki was speechless since he had to say how unfair the world was. Here, he was training until he wasn't sure how many times his hands were full of blood and his bones were broken, yet Nura Rikuo would power up, becoming even stronger in a short amount of time through screaming.

However, he could only do nothing since, as of now, it was impossible for him to fight the world.

'When I become stronger, then sooner or later, I will take you down, you plot armor!'

As for the Youkai coalition group, many of them died, and many of them wished to stop the war since if they continued, their clan might disappear.

However, when they thought that they could return to their home and rest, he didn't show mercy and took down all of them, turning them into his subordinates. Those clans, who looked down on the Shikoku Youkai, were now being taken down by the clan they looked down on, and they could only do nothing as their wealth, territory, wives, and daughters were robbed by him.

This was why many Shikoku Youkai was in love with him since winning, robbing, and dominating the others were just exhilarating. It was so addicting, and under his rule, they knew they could share some of his glory, which they were looking forward to, and without a doubt, being able to serve under him from he had nothing was something they were proud of among his first followers.

Still, among the enemy youkai, which they had taken down, there were some who took the initiative to join without much of a struggle, but he knew that they hid something deep inside, yet he didn't do anything from the beginning to the end; he had never thought of them as an opponent.

His only opponent was Nura Rikuo, who was the protagonist of this world.

With that said, he hardly got stronger after his fight with Nurarihyon. It was true that he had become stronger, but especially when his learning speed became even faster. He learned everything that anything his hands got into.

Frankly, he thought there would be a Qigong martial arts or something in China, but it seemed it wasn't easy to get the manual instruction for those types of martial arts, so he just trained in any martial arts he could get his hands into.

"Right! That's right! From now on, Tamazuki-sama will be the righteous commander of the Shikoku Clan!"

"Let's have a party! Let's have a party, Tamazuki-sama!"

All of his followers were in a festive mood.

"Calm down, you lot. The battle hasn't even begun. Anything can happen in the battle, but I will definitely become the commander."

Yes, he didn't think that he would lose to his father. While the amount of his "Fear" was only a little higher than his father, his learning ability, his mastery over innate abilities, fine control over the "Fear," and his fighting ability were all above his father's. He couldn't imagine how he would lose to his father. If there was something that his father was above him, it was without a doubt an experience, so even if he was confident about the result, he couldn't let his guard down.

The fight appointment was about to begin soon, and he knew that it was time for him to become the rightful commander of the Shikoku Youkai.

By then, he could control all the Shikoku Youkai, invading the other Youkai group and ruling this country before going beyond the sea, turning this world into his.

Then, what if this world was dominated by him?

Then, he would go to heaven and hell, conquering those two places. When he finished, he might as well be thinking about going to another world, yet this was only in his imagination since, with his power, he knew for himself that it would be impossible for him to do all of that.

He wasn't all omnipotent, and his growth was stuck. He was already at his peak, so he tried to go in a different direction, trying to search for power, which could make him stronger, yet unfortunately, it was impossible.

As a tanuki, he had a limitation.

He would stay the way he was unless he could break this limit. The only way for him to get stronger was to get his hands on the women, yet until now; he hadn't found any women who could trigger his system. He might have a lot of cute and beautiful maids from young to old, from youthful beauty to mature women, from married to a virgin, yet none of them could trigger his system. He let out a long sigh inwardly, but when he was about to go home with his followers, he noticed someone seemed to be hurt and fell on the ground.

No, it wasn't someone. Instead, it was a youkai with black sparrow-like wings, a petite yet beautiful appearance, lightly hidden with cloth wrapped.

She seemed wounded, yet the way she fell was suspicious since this place was close to his home.

Still...

<Target has been found!>

"......"

Was it so easy for him to find someone who could trigger his system?

He was surprised, but more importantly, he knew well the identity of this woman since, in the original story, she was the only beautiful heroine on his side.

Yosuzume.

"Hey, is that youkai hurt?"

"Huh? Really?"

"Ah, that's right! There is a youkai hurt!"

His underlings quickly approached the youkai, who seemed hurt and unconscious on the ground, without much thought and any suspicion, showing how pure and naive they were.

"Tamazuki-sama, what should we do?"

They scratched their heads and waited for Tamazuki's decision. Honestly, they didn't want to waste their time here, especially when his battle with his father to determine the future of Shikoku Youkai was about to be held.

"Hari-Onna, take her to the house. Tend her wound. We have found her. It might be fate, and it is too cruel to let her die like this."

Yes, it was fate, which made him sigh since the protagonist had a lot of beautiful women who devotedly loved him, but the beautiful woman by his side was ready to betray him anytime.

"Okay." Hari-Onna nodded and didn't show much reluctance since even if this youkai was beautiful, she knew she wouldn't be her competitor to get Tamazuki's heart.

If he knew what Hari-Onna was thinking, his lips could only twitch, yet even now, he had to sigh since he realized that many youkai didn't seem to have an interest in the opposite gender.

Still, he couldn't deny his excitement since he knew he would get his new reward soon.