Help! I changed the gender of the male protagonist in the yandere game

Even though Yukiyasha-hime was speaking with absolute certainty, Hyakusuke harbored strong doubts about the matter.

To be honest, what the Lady of the Lake said might not be wrong, but the actual situation often fell short, leaving him somewhat skeptical.

"It feels a bit unreliable... but Yukiyasha-hime hasn't deceived me yet, so I'll treat it as a trump card."

After much deliberation, Hyakusuke decided that the Tsumugari-maru shouldn't be exposed to others and should only be used as a last resort.

...

Awakening from the dream, the first thing he saw upon opening his eyes was the campfire. Faint smoke rose from the weak flames, drifting towards the cave ceiling.

Hyakusuke looked down at his right hand, the Tsumugari-maru was still in his palm.

"Has the snow stopped?"

He couldn't hear the sound of wind or snow outside. Deep within the cave, there was only silence and the crackling of the wood.

Hyakusuke had fallen asleep against the rock wall. When he woke up, he noticed something leaning on his shoulder, radiating warmth.

Surprised, he turned his head and saw Yobi's profile. She was fast asleep, her breathing light. Her full lips were almost touching his cheek, as if she was about to kiss him.

Her sweet breath tickled his cheek and nostrils, and his heart raced faster and faster.

The girl's entire head was resting on Hyakusuke's shoulder. He had asked her to help keep watch, but she had fallen asleep halfway through.

"...Looking at her like this, she's actually quite a cute girl."

Hyakusuke gazed at the girl's praiseworthy sleeping face, a sense of tenderness he had never felt before welled up inside him, leaving him somewhat flustered.

No, now wasn't the time to let his imagination run wild. He shook his head, banishing the amorous thoughts from his mind.

"But, my matter here is settled. I wonder what the situation is like in Kasumi Castle...?"

As Hyakusuke muttered to himself, a look of worry for the current state of Kasumi Castle appeared on his face.

...

Kasumi Castle. Deep within the dungeon, a few candles cast a dim light.

Besides the smell of rotten earth and corpses filling the air, there was also a faint fragrance, from incense lit by a young man wearing wide-sleeved clothing.

"Quite a lot of preparation work has gone into this."

The man speaking was Jinno of the 'Eight Blessings Society'. He had gray hair, slender and delicate eyes, and a straight nose, but his complexion was as pale as a dead man's. In fact, he wasn't alive, but a dead man resurrected by a necromantic spell.

"Of course... since it's Lord Akamatsu's order, no one would dare to be negligent. However, transporting these corpses into the castle is a bit troublesome."

Several samurai belonging to Akamatsu Mitsusuke were secretly carrying coffins inside.

"The corpses of demons and monsters... are too difficult to obtain. We are not exorcists, after all, and many monsters' bones are disposed of after they die. The only things we could find were these coffins."

Akamatsu's samurai attendant nodded.

"Besides that, there are the demons sealed and suppressed in the castle's dungeon. Killing them should also provide some demons that can be resurrected."

"Resurrecting them isn't difficult."

Slowly, Jinno nodded.

"But they are too weak. The demons in the dungeon have been suppressed for many years, and their demonic energy has waned... You also sent many ordinary people's corpses. Even if these dead can be revived, they will hardly become a fighting force."

"So, we brought these coffins."

"Looks like 'people', not demons?"

"That's right."

The samurai nodded with a smile.

"Don't underestimate these individuals. In life, they were all famous warriors, swordsmen, sorcerers, and exorcists. Finding their tombs and stealing their bones could not have been done without Lord Akamatsu's orders."

"Is that so?"

Jinno didn't doubt it too much, because these coffins did emanate a deep aura. These people must have been renowned figures in their lives. Even with only a few bones left after death, their powerful will still lingered within.

Because they were once celebrated heroes, their tombs would inevitably be protected to some extent, even revered by their descendants or the common people. To exhume these corpses, it would require someone with power like Akamatsu Mitsusuke to exert pressure.

"Hoo hoo hoo..."

After confirming the origins of the corpses, a burst of laughter echoed through the dungeon, startling the samurai under Akamatsu's command.

Before their eyes, the young man with gray-white hair, slender eyes, and wearing a large kimono let out an eerie laugh. A somber laughter, like a whisper in their ears, arose as Jinno's eyes lit up at the sight of the coffins.

"I never expected to encounter such high-quality corpses even after death. This trip was worth it. If I use these corpses, I should be able to create exceptionally powerful living corpses, right?"

Just hearing his mutterings sent chills down the spines of the samurai, and they involuntarily took a step back.

"Lord Akamatsu, is this really okay? Even though it's insubordination, gathering so many demonic and heretical figures... Can we really seize Kasumi Castle with these people?"

The leading samurai chief asked himself, even he wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do. However, now that everyone following Akamatsu Mitsusuke had staked their lives, there was no turning back.

In the end, no matter what grievances they held in their hearts, everyone present only had one path to follow... to go all the way to the end...

...

The Black Hagi Clan's private seal was stamped on the document.

"I never thought that using mugwort juice combined with those herbs would actually temporarily suppress the effects of the blight."

Kuzuha twisted her stiff neck and looked up, only then did she notice the moon had risen high in the sky.

'The situation in Kasumi Castle is also becoming complicated. I have a feeling that woman is behind this... What exactly is she planning!?'

The Second Lady of the Black Hagi Clan was filled with vigilance. She keenly sensed the air of conspiracy. The entire 'script' of Kasumi Castle seemed to be guided by some force, gradually developing into what it is today.

The number of patients in the city was still increasing.

However, with the prescription provided by Kuzuha, coupled with the efforts of the Renjo Trading Company, the situation had eased slightly.

However, this was only a temporary solution. To completely eliminate the 'blight', the source of the 'blight' must be destroyed.

"There's a high possibility that someone is poisoning the water... After all, the Blight Oni have been killed, but the blight is still spreading. According to him, that Akamatsu Mitsusuke is very suspicious."

Through bits and pieces of information, she was able to deduce some things, such as the fact that the current Lord Suo was likely being held captive by Akamatsu Mitsusuke.

'What are Renjo Senshiro and that Guardian official who came from the capital planning? They should also intervene in the current situation, right? Heh, will this become another source of conflict between Kyoto and the local area?'

Kuzuha sneered. Although she knew these inside stories, she had no intention of acting immediately. Kasumi Castle wasn't the Black Hagi Clan's territory. As an agent, she had to act cautiously.

Moreover, even if she knew some key information, she couldn't act arbitrarily. As an outsider invited to Dewa Province, she had to maintain a neutral stance.

Any careless action could draw her into local political disputes. The worst-case scenario would be doing something bad with good intentions, or even falling into a disadvantage in the clan's factional struggle, shaking her foundations.

Therefore, all this time, she had been restraining her clan's forces, not interfering in the internal affairs of Kasumi Castle, only providing support when Akamatsu Mitsusuke requested it, such as providing the prescription to alleviate the blight's symptoms.

'On the other hand, even if I were to intervene in the affairs of Kasumi Castle, it wouldn't be now.'

Kuzuha didn't intend to sit idly by. It wasn't because she cared about Kasumi Castle, or felt any sympathy for the people in the city. She simply knew that this was an opportunity that could be exploited.

'He saved Renjo Senshiro before, which counts as an achievement in this matter, and he also sold a favor to the Renjo Trading Company. If he takes action next, then it will be justifiable for him to gradually gain a foothold in the clan, and no one will be able to find fault with it.'

Kuzuha always had her own plan, which was to cultivate her man into a great figure commensurate with her status, and then help him regain everything he had lost in the past.

However, to do all this, she had to be careful to avoid interference from her mother and grandmother.

If she were just an orphan who had just come to the Black Hagi Clan, she wouldn't have such great power. Fortunately, she had been accumulating power, and had already seized considerable authority in the Black Hagi Clan, enough to contend with her mother and that gloomy woman.

'Hmph... I'll use the events in Kasumi Castle to help him make a name for himself. He's been slowly accumulating connections all this time. All I have to do is give him a push at a crucial moment--'

Kuzuha was overjoyed.

No matter what calculations the gloomy woman had, as long as she acted according to her own layout, waited for an opportunity, and seized the greatest benefit from this 'incident', it would be enough for her. She wouldn't care about the lives of others.

Suddenly, with a few soft sounds, bats flapping their paper wings flew in, turning into a letter and landing beside Kuzuha on the low table on the tatami mat.

"What's this?"

She stretched out her slender fingers, opened the letter, and read it softly.

"This... what does this mean? The Great Shrine Maiden of the Shin'o Main Shrine is missing--"

After reading the letter, Kuzuha clenched her back teeth.

She hadn't expected the situation to gradually change to this point. She knew that if things continued to develop like this, everything would be beyond her control.

The 'upheaval' in Kasumi Castle was like a wild horse that had broken free of its reins, becoming completely out of control.