"…Were they captured, or were they invited?"
Baal's beautiful eyes looked at the frightened craftsmen. Although she said that, no matter how she looked at it, those craftsmen didn't seem to be there voluntarily.
These unlucky craftsmen… must have been captured by the youkai.
"Ah… they volunteered to come and help you build the shrine, Lord Baal!" The Deer-head Monster calmly waved his feathered fan, then looked at the craftsmen and asked calmly, "Did you all come voluntarily to build a shrine for our Lord?"
As he spoke, the rest of the youkai cast menacing, threatening glances at the craftsmen, as if a slightly incorrect answer would cause them to swarm and… eat all the craftsmen.
The air solidified.
"Yes, yes, yes!" A middle-aged man wearing a headscarf squeezed out an extremely fake smile. "We have volunteered to build the shrine for Lord Baal, and to ask for money… would be too shameless."
"…"
Baal remained silent.
This was clearly forced, but she wasn't too surprised by it; after all, these youkai… had no money.
Wanting to hire them with money… was simply unrealistic.
"…Divine Lord, although we 'voluntarily' help you build the shrine, we still… need to eat some food." The middle-aged man with the headscarf cautiously spoke again. "Can you allow us to send some people home to bring back some food?"
"Don't worry, I'm not some bad youkai." Baal suddenly sighed helplessly, took out a gold bar and dangled it. "For now, I'm considered a deity, and I will pay you. I just don't know if this much is enough for you to build the shrine?"
"This… is…"
The middle-aged man with the headscarf's eyes followed the swaying gold bar, and he couldn't help but swallow, an unexpected ecstasy in his heart.
"Divine Lord, we will definitely build a beautiful shrine!"
If he was to be exploited without pay, he naturally wouldn't be willing, but if there was money, and a very generous reward at that.
Then he was very willing to help build the shrine.
"Please rest assured, we have even built residences for Lords!"
"Indeed, we will do our best to satisfy the Divine Lord!"
"The Divine Lord is truly very generous!"
The craftsmen spoke up one after another, their attitudes changing extremely quickly. They had initially thought that being captured by youkai this time meant their labor would be exploited for free.
Moreover, even if the work was done… they might not return home alive.
However, after arriving at Maple Village and discovering the famous miko 'Kikyo', they felt much more at ease.
After all, they probably wouldn't be killed by youkai.
And since the Divine Lord had offered sufficient compensation, they were very willing to help with the work.
To be honest, even if those youkai hadn't captured them, as long as enough money was offered, they would have happily rushed over themselves.
After all, no one… would refuse something as good as money.
"Lord Baal… you… you… are you that rich?!" Little Kaede looked at the gold bar in Baal's hand, her eyes swirling with dizziness like mosquito coils. "Is this… the legendary… gold bar?!"
She suddenly realized she didn't seem to understand Lord Baal enough, after all, she truly hadn't known about Lord Baal's rich lady attribute before.
Now, when she looked at Baal-sama, she felt a sacred glow emanating from him.
The rest of the Maple Village villagers were also dumbfounded; they unexpectedly discovered that the deity of their village possessed more wealth than all of them combined.
How did Kikyo-sama manage to persuade such a wealthy woman to return to the village back then?
Surely, she wasn't captured and brought back, right?
"Hmm... it should be a gold bar."
Baal nodded slightly, handed it to Xiaofeng, and chuckled, "How about you, Xiaofeng, verify its authenticity yourself?"
"...So heavy!"
Upon receiving the gold bar, Xiaofeng felt her hand sink, realizing the gold bar was unexpectedly heavy.
It was the first time in her life she had held so much money.
"..."
Baal watched Xiaofeng's cautious demeanor, a faint smile appearing on his face, then turned his gaze to the Deer-head Monster and inquired.
"You should... have something else to say, right?"
"As expected of Baal-sama!"
The Deer-head Monster stopped gently fanning himself and bowed slightly to Baal, speaking softly.
"The rat clan in 'Three Cave Mountain' intends to submit to us, Inazuma, but the prerequisite is to meet Baal-sama first."
"...Is that so."
Baal's serene face showed no emotion, but inwardly, he was pondering how to handle it; he naturally didn't want to meet the so-called rat clan, after all, what if the rat clan wanted to witness his power.
Then he couldn't possibly perform a chest-breaking-boulders act for the rat youkai, could he?
Ultimately, he currently possessed no impressive strength, even after being strengthened by the demon god residue.
It hadn't... achieved a qualitative leap.
"Baal-sama, don't be angry!"
The Deer-head Monster, seeing Baal's expressionless face, understood perfectly and began to boast again.
"Those rats... naturally don't have the qualifications to have Baal-sama meet them, so I've already brought them here to see you!"
With that, he raised a hand and pointed to a spot not far away.
There stood three bipedal rats, two of which were about 1.9 meters tall, appearing quite robust and strong.
The remaining one, however, was an unexpectedly small, white-furred rat, standing less than 1.4 meters tall, roughly the same height as the Corporal.
It could be said that, compared to the two strong black rats... it was pitifully short.
Baal's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly, a thought of wanting to beat the Deer-head Monster to death crossing his mind.
However, he quickly felt relieved.
Kikyo silently walked closer to Baal, took down her bow and assumed a defensive posture, her attitude conveyed without a single word.
It gave an invisible, strong sense of security.
"..."
The small white rat walked out from among the youkai, with two robust youkai accompanying him as guards on either side.
"Baal-sama, I am Shiratsuyu Maiko, the second daughter of the Rat Youkai Clan's chief. Please guide me."
She bowed like a noble lady, showing no aggression, unexpectedly overly gentle.
However,
"Hmm, I've noted your name." Baal nodded slightly, his voice calm as he asked, "What do you want... to ask?"
"Actually, there were many things I wanted to ask." Shiratsuyu Maiko lowered her head slightly, her voice soft and light, "But now, only one question remains."
"...What question?"
Baal asked, frowning slightly.
Then.
"What is your relationship with... the Youkai Sage?" The small rat youkai asked the most practical question, "This is the only question we wish to ask."
As he spoke, all the youkai present, including all the humans, fixed their gaze on Baal.
"..."
Baal was silent for a moment, looked around at everyone, then gently shook his head, giving a calm answer.
"I'm sorry, I and Yakumo Yukari... have no..."
Before he could finish speaking.
A fair, slender hand reached out from somewhere, suddenly covering Baal's mouth, directly blocking Baal's next words.
Then, a pleasant chuckle emerged.
"This... naturally, there's a relationship, oh~"