21st Century Necromancer

Chapter 615 611: Foodie God (Please Subscribe, Asking for Monthly Tickets)

In Japan, nearly everyone knows about the Inari Shrines, for after all, there are more than 30,000 Inari Shrines spread across every prefecture of the country. In some sense, not knowing the great name of the Inari God is no easy task.

Among these more than 30,000 Inari Shrines, the Fushimi Inari Taisha is undoubtedly the head shrine, which could also be called the leader of all Inari Shrines. It also serves as the dwelling place of the Inari God's enshrined deity.

However, out of these more than 30,000 Inari Shrines, aside from Fushimi Inari Taisha, there are two other shrines that are as renowned, collectively known as the Three Great Inari Shrines.

Situated in Kashima City of Saga Prefecture, the Yutoku Inari Shrine, along with Kyoto's Fushimi Inari Taisha and Ibaraki Prefecture's Kasama Inari Shrine, are collectively called the Three Great Inari Shrines of Japan, each with histories spanning over a thousand years.

Although there are claims that Toyokawa Inari and Mogami Inari are the Three Great Inari Shrines, both Toyokawa Inari and Mogami Inari are actually Buddhist Temples, and even more so, the deities they enshrine are not Miketsu no Kami. Thus, for Inari God himself, it's obvious that he would not choose a Buddhist Temple as his abode, even if it were just a temporary resting place.

Named the Namiyoke Inari Shrine, it is an Inari Shrine located in Tokyo's Tsukiji and is not particularly large in scale. However, because every year during the Tsukiji Lion Festival the shrine brings out a lion's head that weighs about 700 pounds for a street parade, the shrine is reasonably well-known.

Add to that, the Inari God is the God of Food and Commerce, and the businesses in Tsukiji Market have been devoutly worshipping there; the shrine also contains various food tombs like Egg Tomb, Fish Tomb, and others, so it can be considered to be flourishing with worshippers and visitors.

As for why this shrine is called 'Namiyoke,' it stems from the fact that during the construction of Edo Castle, the Tokugawa Shogunate ordered land reclamation by filling in the sea, but during the construction in Tsukiji, the relentless waves and pounding tides were a constant issue.

It was not until one day when a statuette of the Inari God floated ashore that the waters calmed—people rescued the statuette, built a shrine to worship it, and thus, the Namiyoke Shrine got its name.

For the Inari God, when choosing a place to reside, this shrine, which was established due to his own manifested miracle, was obviously much more appropriate than the Toyokawa Inari, a Buddhist Temple that worships five-grain gods.

"Suzuhime, what is the current situation?" Within the Namiyoke Inari Shrine, Miketsu no Kami inquired about the situation from Suzuhime.

"Currently, the male of those two individuals has returned to Kumamoto in Kyushu, while the female remains in Tokyo. There has been no contact between them, and the surveillance by the Matchmaking God on their Red String of Fate hasn't changed." As soon as Suzuhime learned that the Inari God had come to Tokyo, she immediately rushed to the presence of her deity.

After hearing Suzuhime's report, Miketsu no Kami's expression cleared slightly, and she nodded, "It seems the situation is not bad, and things have not worsened to the most dire scenario."

Miketsu no Kami placed great importance on this matter; as one of the ancient deities, she knew all too well the dire consequences of the boundary between life and death being breached.

This is also why she personally came to Tokyo upon learning of the situation.

Now knowing that the situation had not deteriorated further, Miketsu no Kami felt considerably relieved and turned her concern to the Matchmaking God, still in Tokyo.

"What is the Matchmaking God currently doing? She hasn't caused any trouble, right? She has performed commendably this time, promptly discovering the affair and dealing with it appropriately. She deserves a reward." Miketsu no Kami was truly pleased that the Matchmaking God had promptly identified the anomaly of a living person in love with the deceased and had handled it timely, and naturally, she wanted to reward the Matchmaking God.

However, upon hearing Miketsu no Kami's words, Suzuhime had a certain indescribable discomfort.

It was she who was frightened, it was she who ran errands, yet Miketsu no Kami stayed in Tokyo, enjoying delicious food and reaping all the credit. Now, Miketsu no Kami even wanted to reward her!

This inevitably caused Suzuhime to feel a sense of imbalance, but she couldn't bring herself to tattle. She did not complain to Miketsu no Kami, instead, she reported truthfully, "The Matchmaking God is currently at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, working with the mortals there to monitor the man and woman. However... she may have caused some trouble recently, although those mortals have already taken care of it, there are still some rumors among them."

"Trouble? What kind of trouble?" Miketsu no Kami caught the implication in Suzuhime's words and asked without much concern. To Him, the merit established by the Matchmaking God this time was substantial, and even if a bit of trouble was stirred up, it was within His acceptable range.

Suzuhime told Miketsu no Kami about the incident where the Matchmaking God demanded food offerings from mortals at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and explained the potential consequences of the act. She did not expect Miketsu no Kami to become excited after hearing about it.

"There was delicious food? The Matchmaking God is out of line!" Although Miketsu no Kami spoke words of reproach about the Matchmaking God, Suzuhime suddenly had a sinking feeling.

As expected, Miketsu no Kami's next words confirmed her premonition, "There were delicacies and these mortals didn't think to offer them to me, the deity in charge of food? How indiscreet can they be! And how could the Matchmaking God selfishly enjoy the food offerings from mortals alone! Where is she now? Take me to her!"

Suzuhime suddenly felt a wave of darkness before her eyes. How could she have forgotten that their deity was also a foodie?

——————————————————

By the time Inari God arrived in Tokyo, Yu Chen and Hiromi Jounouchi were still touring London.

Compared to London of the 18th Century, the environmental situation in modern London is much improved.

This might confuse some people who wonder why the modern environment is better than the ancient one. Wasn't there no industrial pollution in the past, making the air and environment better?

If we go a bit further back in time, to the 16th or even the 14th Century, this statement would be accurate. But by the 18th Century, when the Industrial Revolution began, industrial pollution became one of the first challenges that humanity had to face.

The Great London Fog of that time was caused by industrial pollution, and with London's own climate prone to causing hazy weather, the city's upper class would often "flee" to the countryside during the 19th and 20th Centuries.

In modern society, environmental issues are getting more attention, and the British Government has made great efforts to deal with London's industrial pollution, so the weather has actually been quite good during the days Yu Chen and Hiromi Jounouchi spent touring London.

However, speaking of the Great London Fog, Yu Chen also remembered the spoils he had brought back from that space.

"Honey, why do you like to keep things in bottles so much? I can accept making Captain Kidd and the pirate ship into ship-in-a-bottle models, but why did you even bottle up the Great London Fog?!" Hiromi Jounouchi was flipping a transparent glass bottle in her hand, watching the fog roiling inside and asked Yu Chen.

"It's convenient to carry? I couldn't find anything to hold it, so I just grabbed a glass bottle," Yu Chen answered with a helpless shrug, looking towards the row of glass bottles he had brought out from that space, which made his excuse seem very weak.