Chapter 45 The Sealed Past
Before Tsurumaru Kuninaga could come up with a way to make amends, Kanshu was already taking them back to the citadel. Having only spent a day with Kanshu, most of the tsukumogami were reluctant to return.
The scenery here is especially beautiful, and many of the buildings are ones they've never seen before. Those who enjoy tea and scenery are particularly fond of the pavilions and towers here.
Seeing the obvious reluctance on their faces, Han Zhou said, "You'll come back. After all, this is like another home for you."
With them around, this place will surely have some more life. That's what Hanzhou thought.
Although they were only gone for a day, three days had already passed back at the citadel. If they didn't return soon, the government would become suspicious. After all, this time it was an entire citadel of tsukumogami who had left.
After returning to the citadel, everyone quickly got back to work. Those with internal duties went about their tasks, and the sortie arrangements had already been communicated to the respective spirits. They would depart in an hour.
Hanshu, now focused on her work, noticed the file Kitsunenosuke had placed on her desk. When she read its contents, her brow furrowed slightly. It detailed the three major families' secret plot to assassinate a high-ranking Saniwa.
At the end of the document, Qingye even included his speculations, detailing the reasons behind Yu Yuwu's curse. She had only been gone a short time, yet Qingye had already uncovered so much; his abilities were undeniably remarkable.
This further convinced Han Zhou that the destruction of the [Time Reversal] was caused by the three major families. Of course, Qing Ye and Yu Yuwu should also know about this.
She wrote down her explanations regarding time, time reversal, and other related concepts, and also offered some speculations about the three major families. After compiling this information, Fox-no-suke encrypted it and sent it to Yu-yu-wu and Qing-ye.
Han Zhou processed documents quickly, and the backlog of documents on hand decreased at a visible rate. He thought as he processed them.
It's basically confirmed that the three major families are the culprits behind the disruption of the [Time Reversal], and the members of the Time Government and the Saniwa are probably kept in the dark.
The only people who know about this matter are probably the patriarchs and elders of the three major families.
Besides this one, she still hasn't found the remaining three auction venues. It remains to be seen whether the three major families, having lost two venues in succession, will continue to hold auctions.
Having witnessed the auction held by the Lai Sect, Han Zhou was fairly certain that the Time Retrograde Army included humans or monsters; the rat they had caught at the auction was indeed from the Time Retrograde Army.
But that kind of space where one can secretly observe is also a type of formation. Moreover, it's a relatively advanced formation, and not everyone among humans has the ability to cast it.
Things are far more complicated than Han Zhou imagined. Why are humans so entangled with the Time Travel Army? There are probably interests between them that Han Zhou has not yet guessed.
"My lord? My lord—!"
Lost in thought, Han Zhou didn't hear the tsukumogami's call for a moment. Only after realizing what was happening did she look up as if suddenly aware of something, and see the person who had "suddenly" appeared in front of her.
Standing in front of Ichigo Hitofuri were the wakizashi twins. The head of the Awataguchi family had originally brought them to apologize and make amends to Kanshu, but unexpectedly, they found Kanshu looking overthinking.
He looked at Hanzhou with concern, his voice gentle, "Are you alright? We knocked on the door but you didn't answer, so we came in to check on you."
Han Zhou let out a breath and rubbed his temples. "I'm fine. By the way, what brings you all here..."
Namazuo and Honebami placed the jars they were carrying on the table. The transparent glass jars contained golden honey, and both of them looked unusually uneasy.
"My lord, I apologize for trampling your tea leaves earlier. This is honey that Honebami and I collected together! It's for you."
"...I'm sorry, my lord."
Han Zhou listened to their apologies and glanced at the two jars of honey on her table. Her residence didn't have any honey; for it to arrive so quickly, she must have gone to the forest behind the citadel to collect it as soon as she returned.
She watched the two of them bow their heads, bracing themselves for a scolding, and chuckled helplessly. Actually, she wasn't angry that the tea leaves were damaged. She picked up the honey and examined it carefully.
The quality is indeed very good; I'm afraid Kasen and Shokudaikiri also helped.
Thank you for the gifts, I really like them.
It's a gift, not compensation.
Understanding the unspoken meaning in Han Zhou's words, the two brothers smiled. Ichigo Hitofuri patted his two younger brothers on the head and led them to bid farewell to Han Zhou.
Perhaps it was Ichigo Hitofuri who revealed Hanshu's unease in the office, because when Hanshu came out to relax after finishing his work, he received a lot of concern.
Not only that, Han Zhou also received a large jar of yuzu slices prepared by Tsurumaru Kuninaga, as if he knew about the gift from the wakizashi twins. Honey yuzu tea was also one of Han Zhou's favorite drinks.
Tsurumaru Kuninaga couldn't possibly not know.
It's likely that the twins in Awataguchi who delivered honey also had Tsurumaru Kuninaga's suggestion.
Besides this, there was also a lavender sachet sent by Hasebe. To be honest, she didn't even know when lavender had been planted in the citadel.
They all felt guilty for damaging Hanzhou's tea by mistake, and even though Hanzhou wasn't angry, they still wanted to make amends.
So Hanzhou accepted their gifts.
Upon receiving news from Han Zhou about [time reversal], Yu Yuwu and Qing Ye were so shocked that they didn't know how to react.
The seemingly righteous gimmick of "protecting history" was nothing but a conspiracy, orchestrated by the three major families. The emergence of the Time Travel Army, threatening to alter history, was all because of them.
In the document, Han Zhou also wrote down his speculations about the true spirits of sword spirits.
Every sword possesses its own spirit. Han Zhou suspects that the three great families of yesteryear concealed many things and sought the help of the sword's spirit, succeeding in doing so. They would not allow the original spirit to be affected by a split spirit.
This means that the original spirit will no longer have the experience of the divided spirit, so it is very likely that it will be kept in the dark.
Both Yu Yuwu and Qing Ye needed time to process this massive amount of information; they hadn't expected the truth to be like this.
The two seemed distracted, which worried the spirits in their respective citadels, but at that moment, they wanted to be alone and sort out their thoughts. The spirits could only leave them undisturbed.
As for the original spirits of the swords, Han Zhou was already preparing to investigate. The fastest way was to trace the original spirit back to its branched form. Although there was an isolation formation set up by the three major families between the two, it was a minor issue for Han Zhou.
Finding the spirit without activating the formation was easy for her; she just lacked the right time.
Her first priority now is dealing with Yu Yuwu and Qing Ye; Han Zhou also wants to get some other information from them.
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