Taking a rest here?

There I was, playing possum, while Dea-kun, Misha, and Arthur were genuinely out cold.

I'd step in if things got dicey, but… the village chief and Youki arrived.

"… Excuse me. Oh my? Everyone, taking a rest here?"

"My, sleeping in a place like this, you'll catch a cold. Let's carry them to a bedroom."

"Hold on, Youki. Putting them in the mansion's bedrooms might come across as rude. That said, we can't just open that box of theirs without permission either. Let's bring them to the Ritual Hall. They're all women, fortunately."

The two of them said all that with a straight face. How brazen.

The village chief took Arthur, while the remaining three of us, myself included, were carried on the backs of Youki and the maidservants.

The oni women were plenty strong, hoisting us up like we weighed nothing. One of the maids scooped me right up. Dea-kun seemed to be Youki-chan's charge.

… Since I was pretending to sleep, I figured maybe I should mumble some sleep talk, but then Misha went "Munya munya, uuun, I can't eat anymore nya… no wait, I'll eat nya!… munya," and got her butt poked because they thought she might be awake. Yeah, I'll pass on that.

Still, I had to wonder why they were bothering to consider the genders. What's the deal? What's the scheme?

Ah, right. They did say something about sacrifices needing to be pure maidens or whatever. Must be related to that.

"Even so, for the Miko-hime-sama's entire group to all be napping together…"

"Right? It's almost as though someone drugged them."

When Youki-chan said that, the village chief's expression changed.

"… Wait. Youki. You were on breakfast duty this morning, weren't you?"

"No, actually. Tenshiki-ojisan insisted he wanted to serve the Miko-hime-sama personally, so we swapped. I figured the old man was finally getting serious about his work."

"You idiot! Don't let that bastard Tenshiki make anything that goes into the Miko-hime-sama's mouth! They really might have been drugged. Hurry, to the Ritual Hall!"

Hm? Well now, this just took an interesting turn. So the ones lying in wait up ahead are Tenshiki-ojisan's people? (Already spotted the ambushers with Spatial Magic.)

Then I'll just freeze them in place and leave them lying there. Hiyah. Done.

"Hm? I feel like some kind of pressure just vanished."

"Could it be the Miko-hime-sama's divine power?"

Well, sure, that's probably it. Probably. Almost certainly!

"Let's hurry while we can, Youki."

"Yes! But will the Ritual Hall be safe enough?"

"The Ritual Hall should be secure. Only women can enter."

"Right! Ah, but what about Dragon-sama…?"

"The restriction only applies to humans. Dragon-sama won't be a problem. That said, I can't go in myself, so I'll hand Dragon-sama off to you on the way."

"Yes, Father."

… Hang on. Doesn't that mean Dea-kun can't get in either?

Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. We'll just say dressing as a girl was mandatory for serving as a priestess or something!

And so we headed toward the Ritual Hall. Turns out it was actually pretty close by; there were vermillion torii gates standing right there. Beyond them lay the Ritual Hall.

"This is as far as I go. I'm counting on you!"

"Yes, Father. Everyone, just a little further, hang in there!"

With that, the maid carrying me stepped through the torii gate first.

I felt a strange sensation, like passing through a thin membrane of water.

Spatial Magic. A barrier. Since I'm a pro at Spatial Magic myself, one touch told me almost everything I needed to know… It was a barrier that classified targets and repelled anyone who wasn't female.

But I should be able to get Dea-kun through by coating him with my own Spatial Magic. Easy enough to fool.