In a little while, he planned to make a trip to Ino Shrine.
Because not long after he had finished the battle with the Asakawa sisters, he received a notification from the Pure Love System.
[Ding! Anti-NTR warning alert!]
[The cold and elegant shrine maiden beauty, Jinno Sumire, has already been targeted. The probability of NTR is relatively high. Please respond actively.]
"Did that guy Jinno Takashi notice something, or is there some strange thing showing up near the shrine again?"
Jinno Sumire held a noble status. The number of possible dangers was not many, but Hikari could not completely confirm it right away. No matter what, he had to go to Ino Shrine.
So after washing up and tidying himself, Hikari walked out of the Asakawa house.
Originally, after leaving the Asakawa house, he planned to head straight to Ino Shrine as quickly as possible.
But just as he stepped out of the street where the Asakawa house was located, he gradually slowed down.
Because he sensed that there seemed to be a tail following behind him.
Sure enough. After Hikari walked another six or seven steps forward, three figures closed in on him from the left, right, and behind.
"Kid, where do you think you're going?", A burly man in black clothes with a strong build surrounded Hikari and questioned him in a rather rude tone.
"Does it have anything to do with you?", Hikari replied calmly.
Hearing his casual tone that carried a hint of disregard, the few burly men immediately felt displeased.
"You're planning to go to Ino Shrine, right? Don't think we don't know. You pretty boy, relying on sweet talk to win the shrine maiden's favor."
"Although you do look pretty good. Even I feel a little tempted looking at you. But with just you, you think you can cling to the shrine maiden's thigh?"
"Exactly! The shrine maiden's beautiful legs should be for us to hug, hahaha!"
"That's right! The shrine maiden ordered us to deal with you, you little pretty boy. Kneel down and beg for mercy early, hahaha!"
After joking among themselves, the burly men burst into loud laughter.
"Finished talking? Then it's time to move," Hikari said, without the slightest smile on his face.
"You're in such a hurry, huh? Looks like your skin is really itching, huh?", The laughter was suddenly cut off. The leading burly man, who stood closest to Hikari, was about to give this pretty boy a harsh lesson. But before he could finish his tough words, a black shadow flashed past his eyes.
Immediately, a sharp pain came from his throat. The air he inhaled through his nose sprayed out from the painful spot along with blood.
"You! You! You!"
The three burly men stared at Hikari in shock. Then they all collapsed to the ground at the same time. On each of their throats was a dent left by a punch. Their originally protruding Adam's apples had been smashed to pieces and sunken in.
Two of them died on the spot. Only the one who spoke first still seemed unwilling to close his eyes in death. He held on to his last breath and asked in a hoarse voice, "You… aren't you the Jinno family's son-in-law? Aren't you husband and wife with Lady Sumire? Why are you so… so ruthless… urgh!"
"Because you were sent by Jinno Takashi, weren't you?", Hikari said lightly.
Before the tall bodyguard could finish hearing him, his head dropped.
Looking coldly at the dead burly men, Hikari showed no trace of pity.
Because his senses were far sharper than they imagined. He could clearly feel the strong malice coming from them.
Perhaps even at the moment of their deaths, they still did not realize that their identities had long been exposed.
After his physique had improved, Hikari's memory was excellent, almost photographic.
So the moment he saw these men in black, he recognized that he had seen them in the Jinno household before. One of them even often stayed by Jinno Takashi's side and seemed to have a close relationship with him.
So Hikari instantly guessed that they were sent by Jinno Takashi.
Linking it to the Pure Love Radar's warning that Jinno Sumire might face danger, it was obvious who was behind it.
Hikari bent down and searched the men. From the leader, he found a walkie-talkie.
Through the device, Hikari could see that there were actually four or five other people nearby.
Judging from the Jinno family's power, Hikari estimated that they were all sent by Jinno Takashi to deal with him.
Although he did not know why these people had not shown up to attack after the three men in black were killed, Hikari still followed the GPS location shown on the walkie-talkie and searched for them one by one.
From what Jinno Sumire had told him and from his own observations, Hikari guessed that Jinno Takashi understood that the husband-and-wife relationship between him and Jinno Sumire was fake, and that he intended to make a move against both of them. So Hikari showed no mercy.
He even planned to hunt down and kill every single person Jinno Takashi had sent after him.
But after searching for a while, the result greatly surprised him.
It was not that the people sent by Jinno Takashi were especially skilled.
It was that when he followed the GPS marks on the walkie-talkie's map and found them, they were all gone.
Not missing. Dead.
No wonder from start to finish, when he confronted the three burly men, no one came to help.
It turned out the bodyguards were already dead.
But what surprised Hikari was, besides him, who else in Ino Village was this capable?
These bodyguards should each have decent skills, and to stay hidden, they had concealed themselves in different directions.
Yet when he found them, they were all dead.
Who exactly was so skilled that they could kill so many people at once?
'Wait… no. This does not seem like something a person can do.'
'It is something supernatural.'
Carefully observing the somewhat strange corpses of the bodyguards and gradually sensing something off in the air, Hikari instantly realized.
Thinking of the mountain incident from that day, he could roughly conclude that their deaths were caused by something similar to an urban legend type of strange entity.
Hikari did not understand why such a thing suddenly appeared here. Previously, the strange occurrences he encountered in Ino Village seemed to operate near Ino Shrine.
And he also did not understand why it killed these people, almost as if it was helping him.
There were still many things he needed to figure out.
But there was no time to think too much about that now.
His top priority was to rush to Ino Shrine, see what Jinno Takashi planned to do to Jinno Sumire, and prevent himself from being NTR'd.
Putting aside the distracting thoughts in his mind for now, Hikari quickened his pace toward Ino Shrine.
———
Ino Shrine, inside the side hall where Jinno Sumire usually handled work.
Jinno Sumire was sitting at her desk, which was piled with thick documents, her brows tightly furrowed.
At this moment, a shrine maiden walked in from outside and reported, "Lady Shrine Maiden, half of the industries under the shrine's jurisdiction have already been replaced with the people you designated. As for some others, we haven't fully managed yet, but we've placed trusted people in key positions as much as possible."
After hearing this, Jinno Sumire nodded, "Good. Speed up the process. Strive to take all these industries firmly into our hands and control them tightly."
"Yes!", The shrine maiden lowered her head in acknowledgment, then turned and quickly left.
As soon as a faint smile appeared on Jinno Sumire's face, she lowered her head and saw the stack of documents on the desk, and her brows furrowed again.
"Sigh!", Pinching the space between her brows, a rare trace of fatigue appeared in her beautiful eyes.
Recently, she had been very busy.
Ever since that night when Hikari defied Jinno Takashi, she had guessed that Jinno Takashi would take issue with this son-in-law and would very likely force her to find someone else to continue the family line. When she later brought Hikari to meet Jinno Takashi again, it confirmed her guess.
Knowing Jinno Takashi's personality, she understood he would likely force her to do things she did not want to do. If she refused, he might forcibly take back the authority she once held.
So starting not long ago, Jinno Sumire began step by step placing her own trusted aides in key positions across many Jinno family industries. She intended to firmly grasp these industrial layouts and ultimately take control of the entire Jinno family.
But after all, Jinno Takashi was still above her. In recent years, he had handled far fewer affairs than she did, yet he was still nominally the head of the Jinno family.
So to truly achieve what Jinno Sumire wanted, she still needed a great deal of effort and time.
But judging from how dissatisfied Jinno Takashi currently was with Hikari, every extra day she delayed meant a greater risk of openly falling out with him.
So recently, Jinno Sumire had been working beyond her limits, preparing to accelerate her control over the Jinno family.
But this was truly exhausting. Fortunately, after every deep and intimate exchange with Hikari before, she could release tons of pressure. Otherwise, she might not have been able to hold on.
Thinking of the young man's handsome face, and his strong body that did not quite match that refined appearance, a blush rose on Jinno Sumire's face, and the corners of her lips curved up unconsciously.
Just as the heavily pressured Jinno Sumire was letting her thoughts drift to the handsome youth to relieve her stress, a sudden sound of footsteps rang out.
Hearing the footsteps, Jinno Sumire instantly returned to her usual cold and composed demeanor.
Looking up, she saw several figures suddenly enter the side hall from the courtyard outside.
"Father, what brings you here…", Seeing the stern old face of Jinno Takashi walking at the front, Jinno Sumire forced a faint smile and stood up to greet him.
"I have something to discuss with you. Not a big matter, actually. I just brought someone you haven't seen in a long time to say hello," Jinno Takashi said with a smile.
Then he stepped aside, signaling the person behind him to come forward.
Seeing Jinno Takashi's sharp gaze, the middle-aged man who had been shrinking behind him, slightly hunched and timid, hurried forward.
With his back slightly bent, the middle-aged man greeted nervously, "Sumire, y-you… hello."
"It's you? Naoya?", Seeing the timid middle-aged man who suddenly appeared, Jinno Sumire's pupils shrank.
At first glance he felt somewhat unfamiliar, but his timid temperament was too obvious. Combined with his identity, she recognized him at once.
This middle-aged man was none other than Naoya, her nominal husband who ran away after the engagement and never formally married her.
"Why are you back?", Although he was her nominal husband, Jinno Sumire's tone toward him was extremely cold.
Faced with her words, the cowardly Naoya was clearly nervous, "I… I didn't intend to come back. It was the Jinno family head… my father-in-law, father-in-law who called me back."
Seeing Naoya's timid appearance, Jinno Sumire immediately understood whose arrangement had brought him here.
Jinno Sumire did not give Naoya even the slightest glance. She turned back to Jinno Takashi and said coldly, "Father, he chose to run away back then. It was his own decision. Now that you've brought him back, what exactly is your intention?"
"Do you still want me to complete the marriage with him? Let me make it clear. That is impossible."
"Although nominally he and I are husband and wife, I have never once treated him as my husband."
"And I already have someone new that I like. There is no way I would accept him in the slightest."
"So Father, I must make this clear to you. I will absolutely not have any further contact with him!"
Hearing Jinno Sumire's words, Naoya trembled nervously at the side, but he did not show any objection. He even looked as if he wanted to leave quickly.
But after hearing her speech, Jinno Takashi suddenly laughed.
Smiling, he said, "Whether you want to rekindle things with Naoya-kun, we won't discuss that for now. There are other matters your father wants to talk to you about."
"Let's first discuss why you've been placing so many people into the family industries, trying to sideline me, the family head," Jinno Takashi said casually as he sat in the main seat, crossing one leg over the other and smiling at Jinno Sumire.
Hearing his words, Jinno Sumire's pretty face instantly turned pale.
When she started doing these things, she knew Jinno Takashi would eventually discover it. But she did not expect him to find out so quickly.
And after finding out, he came straight to confront her like this, catching her off guard.
"Father, I have indeed added personnel to many industries. But in recent years, our family's industries have expanded too quickly. They truly require more refined management, which is why I did so," Jinno Sumire said, trying to remain calm and give him a reasonable explanation.
But Jinno Takashi sneered, "Do I need you to think about that? Not long ago, didn't I ask you to return all the family industries? Yet you're so attached to power that you don't even put my orders as the family head in your eyes. As expected, a daughter is not as good as a son. You can't even manage something as simple as obedience!"
Seeing that Jinno Takashi had clearly come to settle accounts, Jinno Sumire understood that he would not listen to any explanation now.
She immediately spoke bluntly and coldly, "Yes, Father, you're right. I did send people to take over those industries because I did not want to hand them back to you."
"But why shouldn't I?"
"These industries were built bit by bit by me through years of painstaking effort, starting from nothing."
"You've been a hands-off shopkeeper for so long, and now with one sentence you want to take away all the results of my previous hard work. Do you think I can accept that?"
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