Miss Heber is fighting her way out of the Lostbelt!

"Even though the nobles' food wasn't good, it was at least edible... isn't it a bit too presumptuous to serve us clods of earth and tiles directly?"

The noble in the main seat looked a little pale: "You——"

Before he finished speaking, the girl sitting in the guest seat stretched out her hand and snapped her fingers.

Snapped.

The surrounding scenery changed.

What was placed before them was not rice or fish? In the rice bowl was a pile of stinking dirt, and in the small bowl was a handful of pebbles; as for the kelp, it was just grass.

Miss Aaron flew into a rage and rushed towards the noble sitting in the main seat with a roar.

"Ah!"

The nobleman who was sitting upright screamed and disappeared in an instant. The next second, he hit his head on the ground and revealed his true form.

It turned out to be a fat raccoon with a green leaf covering its head.

Heber reached out and picked up the raccoon: "Use illusion in front of me, huh?"

The raccoon raised its front paws to cover its face: "Tani Taro was wrong, I won't dare to do that again!"

Heber was about to say something when he heard footsteps outside.

Then, the middle-aged nobleman who had just been seen rushed in from outside. He looked around first, and then his eyes were fixed on the raccoon in Heber's hand.

"Damn you civet cat!" the middle-aged nobleman said bitterly, "You've been a nuisance to me for six months. Today I must kill you!"

As he said this, he was about to reach out to catch the civet cat.

Heber quickly withdrew his hand, leaving the middle-aged nobleman with nothing to catch.

“Excuse me, sir…” The noble narrowed his eyes and withdrew his hand.

"You can call me Tamamonomae," Heber replied. "This demon raccoon can now be considered my trophy. It's not good for Gen-kō to steal my things like this, right?"

The noble laughed heartily: "I was just joking. Please sit down, please sit down!"

Immediately, the servants came in quickly, removed the bowls filled with mud and stones, and brought back a steaming hot dinner. This time it was real food.

Miss Along enjoyed the meal very much - after all, there was no seasoning in the mountains.

Heber still didn't move his chopsticks.

The nobles were secretly shocked, thinking that this beautiful girl named Tamamonomae must be a noble of extremely noble status, and might even be from Zhendan.

The raccoon cat was secretly shocked, thinking that Tamamonomae must be an extremely terrifying monster, who was not even moved by such delicious food. Maybe he came from the west.

Both the nobles and the raccoon demon felt a little uneasy.

After Miss Aaron finished eating, Heber handed over the plate in front of him.

This was of course extremely against etiquette, but no one dared to say anything.

"Minamoto no Mita comes from the Seiwa Genji clan, a distinguished family." Heber suddenly spoke up. "I wonder if he misses the scenery of Heian-kyo?"

An expression of nostalgia and honor appeared on the noble's face.

Seiwa Genji was descended from the retired emperor and was naturally a genuine nobleman of the imperial family.

Heian-kyo was the most prosperous capital of the East at that time, and Hyuga... well, if given a choice, no one would be willing to run from the prosperous capital to the southernmost border.

"Ever since I left Heian-kyō, I've been missing my hometown all the time."

The noble surnamed Yuan sighed and looked at Hebe eagerly.

"Miss Tamamonomae, you helped me solve the problem of the raccoon demon. I am extremely grateful. If you have any needs, please feel free to tell me."

Heber smiled and said, "I'm going to Heian-kyō. Could you please write a letter for me and my companions? This will help us avoid unnecessary trouble."

The noble laughed and said, "That's not difficult. I will write it to Miss Tamamonomae right now."

After a while, two ink-stained handwritten letters were completed.

Heber blew a breath on the two pieces of handwriting, and the ink dried instantly.

She put away the two documents, bowed to the shocked nobles, then picked up Tanuki Taro who was trying to escape secretly, and called Miss Along to walk out of the city lord's mansion together.

P.S. I have to go to work tomorrow, so I can’t update today (desperate)

Chapter 63: Please, Miss Tamamo, save me!

The raccoon cat had its ears drooping, and Hebe grabbed Fate by the scruff of its neck.

"Don't eat me, I'm not tasty." The fox demon trembled and was so scared that he even spoke in dialect.

Heber smiled playfully.

The raccoon is a type of monster that excels at using illusions. They are elusive and playful by nature. They can easily transform into other objects, even humans, though in most cases their lives are not in danger.

In contrast, the demon raccoon's camp deviates somewhat from the beasts and is more inclined towards humans.

This is also one aspect of the gradual confusion between humans and beasts in the Heian period - even nobles can degenerate into great monsters, but monsters also gradually develop human nature through immersion.

Hebe did not remove the leaves from the civet cat's head.

For the demon raccoons, the leaves on their heads are both tools for them to perform magic and the source of their wisdom. Once they are picked off by outsiders, the demon raccoons will become ordinary raccoons.

Miss A Long poked the fox's fat belly with her finger, causing the hair on its back to stand up.

"Why would you go to the City Lord's Mansion and act so recklessly for no reason?" Heber shook the raccoon. "I thought raccoon cats, while boasting their resourcefulness and quick wits, wouldn't be so foolish as to run into a wall... Don't you know that Onmyojis and Shugenjas love to pick on people like you?"

The raccoon cat was stunned and lowered his hands that were covering his face.

"You won't kill me, and you won't eat me?"

"I come from the west."

Heber smiled meaningfully.

Cathay is west, and Albion is also west.

"Oh......"

This time, the raccoon cat was really convinced.

Not only did the nobles of Heian admire the Tang style, but the monsters also respected and feared Zhendan.

There is a saying among monsters that if you offend a big monster but are not killed immediately, and the monster asks you the reason, then you may have come from Zhendan.

Although they are both big monsters, once they have some connection with Zhendan, they become much more noble.

Haven’t you seen that Ibaraki-douji, who originally ruled Mount Oe, had his rule taken away by Shuten-douji?

Ibaraki Douji originally wanted to gather the demons to resist, but when Shuten Douji "accidentally" said that he had traveled in Zhendan, Ibaraki Douji immediately bowed down and was willing to become Shuten's right-hand man.

Heber let go of his hand, and the raccoon cat knelt on the ground hurriedly.

"Tamamonomae-sama! I have a grievance to appeal."

"Stand up and speak."

Hearing both sides will lead to enlightenment, while believing only one side will lead to confusion. She felt that her future path seemed to be gradually becoming clear.

"I came from Mount Oe. The demons there were expanding their power, so the monsters were driven out. To the northeast is Heian-kyo, and since I think my abilities are limited, I came to Hyuga Province."

"Although Hyuga Province isn't as prosperous as Oeyama and Heian-kyo, it's still quite interesting. I was wandering around and came across a young dog demon. Seeing how hungry she was, I gave her some bean cakes, and she insisted on following me."

The raccoon cat was both worried and angry. "I'm a raccoon cat who escaped from Mount Dajiang. How can I have anything to eat? I can only risk my life to steal food from the city lord's mansion to feed her... Once, when I came back late, she actually thought I was arrested and rushed into the city lord's house!"

"She's just a small dog, what's wrong with just wanting to fill her stomach?" The raccoon cat said indignantly, "If she's caught, killed, and eaten by the warriors of the Minamoto family because of me... I, I——"

The raccoon cat burst into tears as he spoke: "But I still couldn't find her. I didn't want her to die in vain, so I tried my best to take revenge on the Yuan family!"

Even at adulthood, the magic performed by the demon raccoon is limited in effectiveness, as it's not the level of magic that limits it, but imagination.

No matter how hard he tried, Tanutarou could only slightly disgust the Minamoto family, but he couldn't do anything to them.

After listening carefully, Heber said to Miss A'long, who was about to yawn, "Please keep an eye on him, Miss A'long. Don't let this evil fox get away."

Then she turned around and returned to the city lord's mansion.

The nobleman surnamed Yuan had solved a major problem that had been bothering him. He was drinking from a glass of wine when he looked up and saw Heber standing in the courtyard with his sleeves rolled up. He was so scared that he almost couldn't hold the glass.

"You...why are you back?" the nobleman surnamed Minamoto asked cautiously, "Are there still some monsters left to be eliminated?"

"You could say that." Heber tucked his hands into his sleeves. "Please ask Mr. Yuan to summon the servants and inquire whether any puppies have been caught in the mansion in the past six months?"

Soon, the servants brought news: a low-ranking samurai named Miura caught a little Shiba Inu in the mansion a few months ago. After learning that it was an ownerless dog, Miura raised the little Shiba Inu and planned to train it into a hunting dog.

"Tell Miura to bring the dog to me!" The noble surnamed Minamoto said with a gloomy face.

He was not a fool. Seeing Herbert go and come back on purpose, he naturally guessed that the unrest in the mansion in the past six months was related to this dog.

"Lord!"

Samurai Miura hurried over, holding a small black Shiba Inu, and knelt on the ground as soon as he entered the door.

The little black Shiba Inu squeezed out of his arms, staring with its big black eyes and tilting its head to look at Heber standing in the courtyard.

The nobleman surnamed Minamoto looked at Heber hopefully: "Ms. Tamamo... look, is this the dog you're looking for?"

Heber simply held out his hand: "Do you know Tanuki Taro?"

"Wang Wang!"

The little Shiba Inu narrowed her eyes, and she happily broke free from Miura's arms, wagging her tail and playing around Heber's clogs.

"What is going on?" The noble surnamed Yuan frowned.

Heber relayed Tanutarou's words to him.

The noble surnamed Minamoto's expression turned even uglier after hearing this. "After all, am I not a victim? That raccoon demon and this dog demon come and go as they please in my house... Where is the dignity of a noble? Miss Tamamo, please leave this dog demon to me!"

Heber thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "Does Yuan Gong want to kill this little dog demon?"

The noble surnamed Minamoto stared at the Shiba Inu and nodded with murderous intent.

"It seems that the source is thinking too directly."

The noble surnamed Minamoto was silent for a moment, then waved his hand to let Miura and the other servants leave.

"Please teach me, Miss Tamamo."

"Gen-King wanted to kill the little dog demon simply to vent his anger. But after he's done that, can he ever get back the reputation and food he lost?"

The noble surnamed Minamoto gritted his teeth and said, "I can order the samurai and servants in this mansion to keep their mouths shut!"

Heber looked at the running Shiba Inu and said calmly, "There's a saying in China: 'It's harder to stop the people from speaking out than to stop a river from flowing.' The more Lord Minamoto forbids the spread of this, the more the common people will do the opposite. Who knows what kind of image Lord Minamoto will portray?"

The noble surnamed Yuan broke out in a cold sweat when he heard this. When he heard the Chinese saying "It is more difficult to guard against the people's mouths than to guard against the rivers", he became even more worried.

"Then, what should we do?" The nobles surnamed Minamoto could no longer sit still and hurried to the courtyard. "Please, Miss Tamamo, save me!"

Chapter 1: The Wise Fox

Under normal circumstances, nobles all pay attention to elegance and advocate the composure of remaining calm in the face of adversity and remaining unmoved by any circumstances.

From "teach me" to "save me"...it can be seen that this man is really panicked.

Heber rolled up his sleeves, took a step back unnoticeably to create some distance, and put on a somewhat distant smile.

"Please be patient, Master Yuan. I have a question for you: why don't you ask a Yin-Yang master or a sorcerer to subdue that demon raccoon?"

"Ah!" The noble surnamed Yuan stamped his feet. "To be honest, I don't have any money!"

The noble complained to Heber, "If we hire an onmyoji, we'll have to pay at least two thousand coins just to save face... and those aren't our Eastern Kingdom's copper coins, but Tang coins from Zhendan!"

The noble surnamed Minamoto spoke gloomily, "If the gift money is less, those money-grubbing onmyojis will probably backbite... On the other hand, although this raccoon cat annoys me greatly, I'll let it be—it will take years before it reaches two thousand coins."

In his opinion, this raccoon cat would probably go away on its own after making enough trouble.

After listening to him, Heber nodded and said, "In this case, this matter can be properly resolved."

"To prevent the little dog demon from starving to death, the raccoon demon risked his life to steal rice from Lord Yuan's mansion. The dog demon, concerned for the raccoon demon's safety, even risked his own life to rescue it. When the raccoon demon learned the dog demon had been trapped in Lord Yuan's mansion, he stayed with it, determined to find the little dog demon... He's clearly a monster, yet he possesses the loyalty of a human."

"If that's the case, why don't you show your kindness by forgiving them, Master Minamoto?" Heber said slowly. "When people learn of this, they'll surely say, 'Master Minamoto's kindness is such that even monsters are convinced.'"

"In the long run, brave warriors will voluntarily surrender, loyal servants will appear on their own, and the common people under your rule will become more law-abiding. Isn't this a good thing for Lord Minamoto?"

The noble surnamed Yuan was overjoyed and said, "Excellent! I'll do as you say."

......