Chapter 35
Part 2: Prologue, The God Holding Down the Lid
'The cauldron of hell is opening!'—or so they used to say. I guess kids these days don't know that one anymore.
It's not a scary story.
You know, hell is said to have things like a pool of blood and a mountain of needles, right? Among them, there's a cauldron where the wicked are boiled for eternity.
The fire under that cauldron burns nonstop day and night, but during Obon, there's a kind of amnesty. They put out the flames, open the lid, and even the bad ones get to visit their descendants for that day.
Basically, even the jailers of hell take a break, so we who are always stuck doing fieldwork should take a little rest too—that's the idea.
Well, that's usually what it means.
But our case is a little different.
Didn't you feel it got a bit hotter after coming here?
Right? Normally, when you go deep into the mountains, it gets cooler, but here it's muggy like you're being boiled.
Then, when you entered this village, didn't you see anything strange?
You didn't? That's good. It's better not to see things like that.
You can't even tell if they're human or not.
I've lived in this village my whole life, so I've seen them more than enough since I was a kid.
How should I put it... They kind of look like people, but they're all burned, melted, and falling apart.
I don't really get it either, but one thing's for sure—they're no good.
See that mountain over there?
It's a volcano. It apparently erupted once back in my great-grandfather's time.
Back then, the crater glowed red and looked so ominous that people called it the entrance to hell.
You wouldn't believe it unless you saw it, but there's a huge lid on top of that mountain.
A big, round iron lid, like a manhole cover.
Weird, right? You don't normally put something like that on a volcano.
What's even weirder is that the lid keeps rattling all the time.
That mountain's a dormant volcano. It shouldn't be making any noise if it's not erupting.
And if it did erupt, a lid wouldn't be enough to hold it back.
Creepy, huh?
That's where they're coming from.
You probably think it's just old folks' superstition, but once you see them for yourself, you'll understand right away.
There's no place for things like that other than hell. Yeah, I'm sure they're the ones being boiled in hell's cauldron.
But hey, don't worry.
If there's a hell, then there are gods and Buddhas too.
You probably don't believe that, huh?
But you'll understand once you go.
The place with the lid on top of that mountain is surrounded by forest, so you can't see it well, but if you get close, you'll find two thick, log-like things that aren't trees.
Know what they are?
Arms.
That's right. The arms of the guardian god here are holding down the lid to keep the bad things from getting out.
Even during Obon, when both humans and hell take a break, the guardian god keeps protecting this village without pause.
No one in the village is scared even when they hear the rattling sounds.
They just think, 'Ah, the god is protecting us again today.'
I really think we should be grateful.
You probably don't believe it, huh?