Adam got off the oboroguruma and observed the unassuming two-storey house. The overgrown garden, broken windows, and the dull yellow paint peeling off the walls all seemed to indicate the house was abandoned. When he spotted movement in his peripheral vision, he looked up and he saw a silhouette standing behind a tattered curtain on the second storey.
Without any hesitation, Adam took a deep breath and spat out a torrent of roaring fire toward the window. Without chanting the incantation and performing the hand seals, the flames were much weaker than usual. However, the sudden attack seemed to have taken the presence behind the curtain by surprise and the flames successfully engulfed them.
"Edamu-sama?! Is there an enemy nearby?!" Nezuminosuke had just stepped off the oboroguruma and did not witness the silhouette.
"Meow!"
When the flames dissipated, there was nothing at the window except the burning curtain.
"Take these talismans and place them evenly around the perimeter of the house." Adam handed a stack of silence talismans to Nezuminosuke.
Putting Pumpkin on his shoulder, Adam took out a stack of glamour talismans and got to work as well. Unlike the silence talismans, he could not leave the work to others. The glamour talismans were still unfinished and required one additional step.
After placing a glamour talisman on a fence from the outside, Adam took out Abe no Seimei's Reifu Brush and drew one more stroke on the talisman while forming an image of the house in his mind. Once done, he stepped back to admire his own handiwork. The image of the house created by the talisman looked quite different from the actual house, but he wasn't worried that anyone would notice since the sky was getting darker by the minute. He continued placing glamour talismans along the fence. Each time, he created images of the house viewed from different angles.
When Adam finished placing the last glamour talisman, Nezuminosuke returned with a reduced stack of silence talismans in his hand.
"Edamu-sama, I have carried out your instructions." Nezuminosuke handed the rest of the talismans back to Adam.
"Good, I am done here as well."
"Meow!" Pumpkin opened his mouth and let out a yawn.
The three of them re-entered the grounds of the house. This time, Adam took out a stack of fire talismans and gave them to Nezuminosuke.
"Cover the walls of the house with these talismans."
A single fire talisman could only evoke a small orb of fire or set a small object alight. However, with a grand total of 1080 fire talismans prepared for this day, setting the house on fire with fire talismans would be possible. If only he could draw explosive talismans, then he wouldn't need to use this many talismans.
When Nezuminosuke and Adam were finished, every inch of the exterior walls of the first floor of the house was covered with fire talismans. Although he spared no expenses, there were still a large number of talismans left.
"Stand back." Adam stood a distance away from the house and formed a hand seal.
As Adam uttered an incantation, the fire talismans burst into flames and set the walls alight. The flames rapidly spread to the second floor and enveloped the entire house. The glamour and silence talismans prevented anyone in the neighbourhood from noticing the blaze, and the column of rising smoke was barely noticeable in the dark.
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"Let's wait for the fire to burn out somewhere else."
"Understood, Edamu-sama."
"Meow!" Pumpkin covered his nose with his paw.
The three of them withdrew from the perimeter of the house to get away from the choking smoke. Adam left the nure-onna to monitor the fire in case the flames got out of control and spread to the neighbouring houses. Even when they were a distance away from the house, he could still catch a whiff of a burning smell in the air. He didn't take into account the smell of the smoke, so he didn't prepare any countermeasures. Fortunately, none of the neighbours seemed to have noticed the smell.
The three of them went to a nearby yakiniku restaurant.
In order to enter the establishment without alarming the staff and customers, Nezuminosuke changed his appearance by shapeshifting. However, his shapeshifting skills were far inferior compared to those of Hakusen. He still resembled a rat, with his small, bead-like eyes and whiskers sprouting from his face.
Adam had already eaten dinner a short while ago but he was feeling peckish, so he ordered three servings of every cut of meat available.
When the server brought the meat, Nezuminosuke and Pumpkin dug in without cooking the meat.
Nezuminosuke picked up a plate of karubi and poured the meat into his mouth.
"Meow!" Pumpkin leapt onto the table and sank his teeth into a thick slice of beef tenderloin. After turning into a yōkai, his diet was no longer restricted to just cat food and he could enjoy other food as well. He only continued to eat cat food because he enjoyed the taste.
"Tsk." Adam shook his head at the uncivilized duo.
As an oni, Adam's constitution was strong enough for him to consume raw meat like them without any fear of getting food poisoning. However, he still preferred to cook his food before eating.
"Hold on, food tastes better cooked. You're going to waste this tenderloin if you don’t cook it first." Adam picked up Pumpkin and snatched the piece of meat from his jaws.
"Meow!" Pumpkin tried to reclaim the stolen meat but his claws didn't even manage to leave any marks on Adam's hand.
Adam laid the tenderloin on the scorching hot grill. As soon as the piece of meat touched the grill, it started to sizzle and fill the air with a pleasant aroma.
Pumpkin stopped struggling after catching a whiff of the aroma. When he was set free, he sat down in front of the grill and waited patiently for Adam to cook the tenderloin.
Adam didn't leave the tenderloin to cook on the grill for too long. He flipped it over with a tong to sear the other side. Once both sides are done, he moved the piece of meat onto a plate.
Pumpkin promptly pounced on the grilled tenderloin and devoured the piece of meat with great relish. As a nekomata, this level of heat was not hot enough to burn his mouth.
After receiving the seal of approval from Pumpkin, Adam began cooking the rest of the meat for himself and Pumpkin. He first covered the grill with slices of karubi. Once both sides of the pieces were cooked, he quickly transferred them onto a plate and added more uncooked slices of karubi onto the grill.
While the newly added pieces of meat were cooking, Adam coated a slice of karubi in a dipping bowl containing salt and pepper before putting it into his mouth.
The flavour of the tender, juicy karubi overwhelmed his taste buds. It was so good he almost took off his clothes. Unable to resist any longer, he reached for more and Pumpkin followed suit. It didn't take long for the both of them to finish the entire plate.
While enjoying the yakiniku, Adam didn't forget to keep an eye on the burning house through the nure-onna. The fire continued to burn fiercely, and it seemed it would take a while for the flames to extinguish. However, when the fire eventually died down, he couldn't believe his eyes.
"Impossible!" Adam dropped his chopsticks onto the table.
"Edamu-sama?" Nezuminosuke froze in the middle of stuffing a piece of raw meat into his mouth.
"No, it's fine." Adam grabbed a new pair of chopsticks and resumed eating. Rushing back wouldn't change a thing. On the other hand, he would be making a huge mistake if he left without eating his fill. When the meat started to run out, he ordered more and the three of them continued eating until they were full and couldn't take another bite.
"Edamu-sama, we should probably carry on with the mission." Nezuminosuke clutched onto his bloated stomach with both hands.
"You're right." Adam was holding onto his stomach as well.
"Meow!" Pumpkin lay on his back on the table. He couldn't even get on his own four feet on his own.
After paying for the meal, the three of them slowly walked back to the house. By the time they reached their destination, their bloated stomaches had gone down thanks to the powerful digestive abilities of yōkai.
"T-that's…!" Nezuminosuke stared at the house with his mouth wide open.
Despite the blazing inferno earlier, the house remained unscathed. If it wasn't for the blackened walls, Nezuminosuke might have thought they were at the wrong location.