Trafford's Trading Club
chapter-137-1

Luo Qiu had never learned calligraphy. Of course, the maid had never learned to grind inkstone [1] before, but the maid could write beautiful swash fonts.

Although Luo Qiu hadn’t learned it before, he got the hang of it after grabbing the brush and writing a few words on the white paper. His ability to improvise his skill like a dimensional jump would attract public anger from the other calligraphers. However, it was just a bonus ability for being the club owner.

Of course, in terms of Boss Luo’s character, he would not show off to everyone that he could do well in calligraphy. He got his hands on the writing brush to finish the young witch’s incomplete story.

“Strong, optimistic, cheerful, um…” Boss Luo stopped at the blank space of the young witch’s story book. He didn’t immediately start writing.

In fact, this story should be completed by the young witch herself in the end. Because Luo Qiu felt that even if he completed it, it still felt like adding a dog’s tail on a saber drawing [1]. Creating a story through imagination and heart was beyond using his ability.

But this was still a transaction after all. The club would sell what the customer wanted to buy.

“When I was in school, I wrote poorly. I often overshoot my scope out of the topic.” Boss Luo smiled suddenly, “Especially when I was in high school, the final essay topic favored the style of an argumentative essay which wasn’t my strength.”

You Ye was surprised, wondering why the master suddenly brought up this matter.

Boss Luo just smiled, then moved the brush in his hand. He finally began to write some words in the blank space.

[Many harmful consequences were due to our actions, mainly due to jealousy and greed for something. In the eyes of Saburo Nagato, those were boundless. With how the world had changed and the vicissitudes of life, his years serving in the military were not as good as he had imagined. The difficulties on the battlefield, the bloodshed of his companions, and the warped corpse with horse leather made Saburo Nagato aware of his naivety. He was utterly disheartened with the hatred of humanity slowly arising in his heart. But, he was still worried about his wife Haru Narukami and daughter Chizuko Nagato in the family, so he became increasingly depressed in the following days. ]

[In winter, reports of great victories on the frontline battlefield were posted. It boosted the morale of Saburo Nagato’s legion. After his recent success, he had further won many battles. The enemy stronghold located on the mountain was taken down within two months. From then on, his side had the upper hand in the war. This was an excellent opportunity to contribute. However, Saburo Nagato was tired of this kind of military life. He witnessed the cruelty of war and did not want to make more killings, so he asked to resign from the front line with the excuse of his injuries. He had accumulated a lot of military exploits in the past few years. Even if he resigned now, his services still allowed him to return home with the ‘Samurai’ title. “Return home.” Saburo Nagato stood on the wall of the mountain stronghold that was conquered, looking at the direction of the sunrise. At the end of daylight, there was his home, the Nagato household. He had his wife, Haru Narukami, there. The ruler mainly expanded the territory, while being a samurai was all about getting supreme glory. However, there was nothing wrong with ordinary life. The delicacy at the celebration banquet reminded Saburo Nagato of the Nagato household’s peaceful meal in Unripe Rice Village – that was far from his reach. ]

[It was springtime again. Samurai like to watch the beautiful scenery of cherry blossoms. The army also set off again from this time, while Saburo Nagato quietly left this place. He thought that if he only took short rests along the journey, he should be able to catch up with the last day of cherry blossom viewing and rush back to Unripe Rice Village. Of course, he did not forget to send a letter back home first before embarking on his journey back. In his letter, he told his current situation and the date of returning home. ]

After the Nagato family received Saburo Nagato’s letter on the frontline battlefield, the family was happy. At that time, Chizuko Nagato had grown up a bit and got a chance to study with Shinji Nagato. Chizuko Nagato was smart when she was young, no worse than Shinji Nagato. The teacher was in favor of her. It was just that Chizuko Nagato still often slipped out of the house when there was no one around her. She would lead a bunch of kids to hike up the stone stairs leading to the shrine together. She just called it exercise, but everyone knew that such training wasn’t what a girl was supposed to go through. Her physical strength was sometimes lacking in comparison to other kids too. After the New Year’s spring, Saburo Nagato returned to the Unripe Rice Village without surprises. Still, Chizuko Nagato failed to tell Saburo Nagato that she could climb the shrine on the mountain on her own. After all, this wish fell through because she still couldn’t climb up the mountain.]

As Luo Qiu took a pause, the maid ground out new ink for her master. After Luo Qiu waited for the night to dry his handwriting, he opened a new blank page.

Outside the shrine, there was a masterpiece of thunder and blazing flames. The demon beast-like Chizuko Nagato and the young witch accepted Miki did not give in to each other.

The boss glanced at it and started to write again.

[On this day, to celebrate the return of Saburo Nagato, the Nagato family was going to view the cherry blossoms.]

…

After slaying the Unripe Rice Village fox demon beast, the onmyoji took away the fox demon beast’s soul. The last name of the onmyoji was Narukami, which came from an ancient onmyoji lineage. Through the many ups and downs in life, the influential figure eventually met his life’s end. The onmyoji’s descendants did not inherit the mighty spiritual power of their ancestors. Hence, the Narukami onmyoji lineage gradually declined.

The name of the last descendant was Haru Narukami. Speaking of Unripe Rice Village’s shrine and Narukami, there was also some connection. After the fox demon beast was slain, the Narukami’s onmyouji assisted in building the mountain shrine of Unripe Rice Village. Later, the Narukami lineage offended some enemies and was wiped out, leaving only Haru Narukami a descendant. Finally, the shrine witch rescued and raised the last bloodline.

The last descendant of the Narukami family still did not inherit the mighty spiritual power of their ancestors. However, Haru Narukami possessed the fox demon beast seal. The descendants of the Narukami family who could not inherit the spiritual power of their ancestors later took the risk. They instilled the robust seal of the fox demon beast on their descendant’s body, hoping to obtain the fox demon beast’s power, and once again led Narukami’s family into the path of glory.

However, things didn’t go as they wished.

Nagato Munechika, obsessed with power, knew Haru Narukami possessed the fox demon beast’s seal. The Nagato family, who had the fox demon beast heart, had ill thoughts. They wished to bring about a more powerful individual by combining the seal containing the soul with the heart.

What was important was that such a descendant was the Nagato family’s descendant!

“I hate the Nagato family!” The eyes of fox demon beast-like Chizuko Nagato were glaring red. She stared at the young witch and released an onslaught relentlessly like the storm, “Especially Saburo Nagato! This incompetent, weak, and cowardly man who is selfish and even betrays his wife!”

[1] The depiction of ending other’s great work terribly.