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...Whew. Is that most of your luggage, Sanae?
Thank you so much for going out of your way to help.
We can't go to the moon with you, so this is the least we could do.
If there's anything you need carried, I can handle it.
In that case, could you carry that box of rice and potatoes?
Those are the supplies I provided, so handle them with care, please~.
Rice and potatoes? That's quite the nutritional spike.
You've gotta eat rice, even in space.
Just so you know, Sanae, we packed some of your favorite pickles in a cardboard box for you.
It's a bit embarrassing to take parts of my daily life with me...
I never imagined that anyone would be taking a trip to the moon on the Palanquin Ship. Or that you two would be letting Miss Kochiya go too.
I tried to stop it at first, but Sanae wouldn't take no for an answer.
Really?
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it would be possible to travel to the moon like this. If this is just common sense in the world of fantasy, then I'd definitely like to experience it for myself.
If she's got her heart set that much on it, we can hardly insist on making her stay.
And we never did let her go on any field trips in the outside world.
Still, getting to just take a trip to the moon when you want? I'm almost jealous.
It's hard for us lower-tier youkai to go, but couldn't the gods go along for the ride?
Well, we're in the middle of the harvest season, so I don't have time to take a trip.
As for me, I could never take this much misfortune to the Pure Land of the moon.
I see, that's unfortunate...
We'd love to go too, if we could, but the timing just doesn't work out. We just started up a new project, so we hardly leave the mountain now.
Yup, this is a critical time for it.
Hm? A new project?
We've been keeping it under wraps, but it's something we and the mountain youkai have both been thinking about.
What if it were possible to turn the power of fantasy into a new energy source?
This is the first I've heard of this too.
Now that you mention it, I think both the Great Tengu and the kappa having been talking about that. After seeing the Palanquin Ship and the Lunar Exhibition, it seems there's been more interest on the mountain in creating new things.
Plus, if this works out, it should kick up the development of agriculture and industry too.
Huh. Well, nothing's better than improvements to daily life.
But surely it's not easy to come up with a new energy?
We're still in the idea stage. But for now, we're thinking about borrowing the idea behind the lunar voyage and using the power of the gods. The crow god who governs the sun, to be specific. The problem is that we can't find an appropriate vessel for it.
Why would you need one? What's wrong with just picking out a go-shintai?
This isn't an ordinary enshrining situation. The main idea here is that somebody takes it into their body. If we do that, it'll be easy to get energy as long as we get along with them.
I see. Then why not use one of the crows around here?
Any ordinary crow would have too many worldly thoughts. There's no guarantee that they wouldn't abuse the power. And even more importantly, any normal youkai wouldn't be able to bear the power of a god. At best, they'd just crumble away.
Oh, I see. Yeah, that's a problem all right.
So you need a purely obedient crow, who meets the requirements to house a god?
If you want one without malice, I saw one recently. You probably couldn't ask her for help, though.
Oh? Could you elaborate, please?
She's a crow youkai called Okuu. She lived in the Underworld. She came up to the surface the other day and caused a bit of a fuss.
Well, of course there was a fuss, she broke that inviolable agreement.
Oh, the one where neither surface nor Underworld youkai can enter each other's territories?
If she meets the requirements, then I'd like to take a look at her, but...
Matters concerning the Underworld are complicated, so it won't be easy to meet her.
Anyway, we should get going. I have to make my own preparations for the launch ceremony too.
Right, I'll see you all at the Palanquin Ship's launch party!