Prologue: Encounter with the Calamity God 

Chapter 01: Exile

“—From this moment on, Yomi Shiranui is hereby exiled from the land of Shiranui.”

The cold voice of Ryoma Shiranui, my father in this life and the head of the Shiranui clan, quietly echoed through the room. 

With this declaration, my surname was stripped away, and I became just a man named Yomi.

While being forced to bow in the lowest seat of the main hall, with my forehead nearly scraping the floor, I couldn’t utter a single word.

I wasn’t allowed to move or speak; all I could do was accept this reality.

The reason was simple: having lost my family name, I now ranked lower than everyone gathered here, and my past as the legitimate heir was erased.

The looks piercing into my back were filled with every negative emotion imaginable: contempt, ridicule, and disgust.

The malice was so heavy it felt like a weight. 

Even though I had prepared myself to face it, the reality of being abandoned by my family was so painful that my body began to tremble before I knew it.

I knew I shouldn’t move, but I trembled anyway.

The summer heat, which I should have felt, was gone, and my body felt as if it had been sent to a freezing wasteland.

Even though I was born into the Shiranui family, blessed by the fire origin and granted the protection of Suzaku, I received no blessings at all. This failure was the reason for my exile in the year 885 of the Divine Era, during the early summer of my thirteenth year.

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Ōkami Sōran Kagura (Great Divine War: Kagura), commonly known as Kamikagu, was a Japanese-style fantasy game with quite a brutal setting.

The game was based on Japanese mythology, focusing on the story of gods and humans trying to stop the yokais (supernatural beings/monsters) that aimed to destroy Japan.

From the perspective of the protagonist, who sacrifices everything to save the world, the game featured thrilling battles and dark themes, along with some rather unmentionable bad endings.

This captivated the hearts of many otakus and made it incredibly popular in certain circles. I found myself reincarnated into that world ten years ago.

When I first reincarnated, I was shocked. I had no memory of my death and just suddenly found myself as a baby.

I thought this world seemed very Japanese-like, and about five years ago, I realized it was a game reincarnation when I noticed my childhood friend’s and sister’s names were the same as the heroines from Kamikagu.

Despair filled me when I realized I had been reincarnated into such a cruel world where life was cheap, but I resolved to work hard to repay the family that raised me, despite my memories of a past life. I managed to recover… or so I thought.

“―You, who are tainted and have not received the blessing of Suzaku-sama or any other spirit, should leave immediately.”

In this world filled with yokais, life is incredibly fragile.

If an ordinary person goes out at night, they could easily be killed by a yokai. If a strong yokai enters a village, it could be wiped out in no time.

To fight these yokais, one needs the blessing of beings called spirits.

Spirits have different ranks: lower, middle, and upper. The benefits one receives depend on the rank of the spirit granting the blessing.

Blessings are generally tied to bloodlines. The Shiranui family, who protect the south of the capital of Hinomoto, have been receiving the blessings of Suzaku, a sacred beast and one of the four gods, for generations.

As the heir with exceptionally high spiritual power, I was raised with the expectation of receiving Suzaku’s blessing. However, I had two problems.

The first problem was that I couldn’t receive Suzaku’s blessing.

If that were the only issue, it wouldn’t have been a problem because my sister, loved by Suzaku, could take my place. But I couldn’t form a contract with any spirit the Shiranui family arranged for me.

In this world, everyone, to varying degrees, has the right to form a contract with a spirit. This is an absolute law of this world.

Since I was deemed to be outside this law, I was considered a cursed or demon child and thus exiled.

“You cannot see or host spirits, and you can’t learn any offensive techniques. The only thing you can do is supportive and healing techniques. You are the greatest disgrace in the history of the Shiranui family, a cursed child. Be grateful we aren’t killing you.”

With my sins declared, the meeting ended, and I continued to bow my head, enduring the hostile glares. Once the last person finally left, I was allowed to move.

“…Ah—haha, I knew it… I’m really useless…”

I knew I had no talent. 

So, to support my family and the protagonists of this world, I tried to make use of my past life’s knowledge to learn support and healing arts. But in the end, this is what happened. There was no bond of family left, and as a failure, I had no choice but to leave.