"Five hundred thousand?"

Danberu had a chat with Renya the following day. He explored Avalon to the fullest to keep his mind off his misery. The first one he visited was the strange girl who fought with his tanuki troops. Danberu wanted her dead for slave driving his troops, but his long years of experience ruling and being a sensible person didn't allow him the luxury.

"Five hundred thousand?"

Danberu repeated his question. Renya was lying to him, saying she had sold her life to Ichi for 500,000. Danberu couldn't believe it, not because it was a total lie and Ichi had no money, but because 500,000 in his context meant Tengu currency, the tengi gold. He had never dreamed up such a number. 500,000 of those? They are short and fat metal bars, any merchant could tell the purity of the metals inside with simple magic. They formed the currency in the spirit world, and Renya told him she sold herself to Ichi for 500,000 of them!

Danberu struggled to understand. Even examining one bar would take a few seconds, even with magic. There was no way to mass count them. Danberu didn't even believe there could be 500,000 tengi gold in the entire spirit world.

He left trying to make sense of what Renya told him. Everything she said was a lie. Unlike Ichi, Tanuki Lord Danberu had no magic nose that could sniff lies. His head full of utter nonsense, Danberu returned to the castle. He wondered what kind of monster the son of Danzaburo must truly be to have access to unlimited resources. The maids and Renya alone appeared beyond any spirits understanding.

For one, Renya said that she was half bakeneko. That explained her cat ears and tail. Danberu nodded to himself as he returned to the castle, thinking to meet the other residents. He ran across two little girls talking in the castle's cavernous library. It appeared to be a sea of books on top of books, Danberu, looking inside, couldn't help but enter. A stern blue haired maid seemed to regard Danberu as air as he slipped past the double doors. He hoped that these girls were more normal than Renya.

Instead, he heard them talking strangely as well. Danberu stopped in his tracks to listen, hidden by a bookshelf .

"Syon and Myon could be sold for... a favor?" Satou questioned Rikya.

"Yes. I thought it would be great to have a place among the Tengu, as they have the most freedom in this world. But, that was before I came to Avalon. This place has absolute freedom."

Rikya crossed her arms on her chest and closed her eyes. Her light smile on her face left Satou aghast.

"No, no, Rikya, you're insane. This place is ruled by Ichi. He created the whole place. And he's a druid. You're a walking target. Plus, his behavior..."

"What's wrong?"

"He didn't approve of the using of Oni's magic. That's not sane."

"Oh. The little girl delivery through tunnel system? Yeah, Ichi's a normal person. He didn't grow up in the Shadow Society, it's just culture shock."

"But he tried to get me to stop deliveries, when the fortress was under siege by thousands of bakeneko!"

Danberu walked away after hearing what she said. Satou failed to mention the reason why was because they were little girls. Danberu fled and wandered the halls. The maid who listened to him the night before, she was on Ichi's side. Perhaps this was a ruse all along. But, Danberu reasoned to himself, why would Ichi try to stop the delivery of supplies right before the battle?

He couldn't understand. There were two competing options in his mind: either Ichi was insane like the little girl said, or he was a mastermind. Danberu set out to hunt Ichi down, bent on finding out who Ichi was. It kept his mind off other matters, at least.