Secret to the Enma Ledger

Good morning! I'm glad to see you up and about this early, Master!

I know you spend a lot of time at Chaldea on standby, but that's exactly why it's important for you to maintain good routines, chirp.

That means no staying up late, no midnight snacks, and no snoozing your alarm. Nighttime is for getting plenty of rest so you can wake up refreshed and raring to go the next day.

It's unfortunate that some Heroic Spirits still have yet to learn these lessons...

...but I'm very glad to see that you understand their importance, Master!

You're the sort of person I'd want for my coproprietor! It's no wonder you managed to restore all of humanity!

Don't be silly, of course it is! You SHOULD be proud! You accomplished something monumental, chirp!

...That said, don't push yourself too hard, okay? Taking on too many responsibilities, or trying to live up to too many people's hopes, can leave you in a state of constant stress.

I'm very happy that you've accomplished so much, but I'm even happier that you're keeping yourself healthy.

Ch-chirp!?

I-I'm so sorry. That just slipped out.

Kiyohime has been raving about your accomplishments ever since I formed a contract with you...

...and I was just so proud that I guess I got a little carried away, chirp.

？！

...Anyway, this won't do at all. We can't spend all day conversing, no matter how pleasant it might be.

Come on, Master, it's time for breakfast. We have some lovely fish this morning thanks to Lady Sion.

We also have hot, freshly cooked rice for carbohydrates, and for the main dish: simmered sardines and pickled plums with a side of chrysanthemum greens.

Cooking at the Wandering Sea has been wonderful. We're spoiled for choice when it comes to seafood.

Though I am a little uneasy that I still don't know exactly how Lady Sion is acquiring these fish...

Anyway, as nice as fish can be, it would certainly get boring if we had it every day, so I'll make sure to bring back some mountain veggies and wild game the next time I go back to the Enma-tei.

Now go on, eat up! You're still a growing boy, after all!

Hehe, I'm glad to see you like this new seasoning. (Taking notes)

Hmm. I see you're not tucking in with your usual enthusiasm. (Taking notes)

？！

Mukyu, fooou??? (Special Translation: What're you staring at?)

Oh, so you were under Master's bed, Lord Fou. Please, don't mind me. It's just an old bad habit of mine.

Would you like something to eat, too? Lady Sion told me you love bacon.

Hehe, you may look like the auspicious qilin of ancient China, but you are nothing like them, are you?

Don't worry, that doesn't bother me. The sparrows got me used to dealing with strange and unusual animals.

I don't know exactly where you come from...

...but I appreciate that you're doing such a good job of keeping LordFujimaru safe!

Kyuuu... Fooou... (I wonder what's keeping the sparrow lady...)

Hmm. It certainly isn't like Madam Beni to not follow her own advice about maintaining good routines.

Even if something urgent had come up, or she had overslept, she would surely have let you know.

So the fact that she hasn't must mean

Indeed she does. Meal prep is something that only gets more difficult with every passing day.

Mothers need to take much-deserved breaks once in a while, lest their souls end up falling to the dark side.

And Madam Beni absolutely deserves the occasional break, given what a hard worker she is.

I would encourage you to remind her of that yourself sometimes, Master.

However...something tells me this absence is not due to her taking a break.

？！

Indeed, I have a bad feeling about this as well. I'm worried we may end up missing breakfast; the most important meal of the day!

Fou, fooou!

Why, we're here to protect you, of course, Master. From poisoned food, specifically.

Fou?

Heh. Yes, it is I, the star of Celtic mythology; the bright hero of the Fenian Cycle.

I am the golden-haired mac Cumhaill; the man who is beautiful in all endeavors. Does that about cover it?

Fou. Fooou.

？！

Hmm. It seems you still don't know about the disturbance that took place here last night, Master.

Fill him in, would you, Diarmuid?

Leave it to me, my lord. I will be both brief and concise.

You see, Master, there was a disturbing incident in the cafeteria last night.

As I'm sure you know, meals at Chaldea have not been what most would consider normal for some time now.

Thanks to the Chaldea staff's hard work, and some creativity on behalf of the chef Heroic Spirits...

...the food here now provides Heroic Spirits with the magical energy we need to remain materialized.

Providing such food was always a goal, but it was only through Madam Beni that it became a reality.

It is the Enma-tei in the Land of Fairiesor the sage realm, as I believe it's called in other countries...

...that has been providing us with ingredients that can nurture spirit bodies as well as physical ones.

As a result, there have been more Servants flocking to the cafeteria now than ever before.

...It was there that this incident took place.

A number of Servants came down with diarrhea all at once, as though they had all been food poisoned.

Last I heard, all of the Heroic Spirits who had eaten there last night are still moaning in bed, their bodies unable to break down the poison.

That is why we are here now, Master: to keep you safe from this nefarious poisoner.

Hahaha. There you have it, Master. But please, no need to concern yourself with us.

To be honest, we were looking forward to the madam's breakfast just as much as you.

Indeed, it was thanks to her cooking that we enjoyed our days working at the Enma-tei as much as we did.

All that aside, it's unsettling that Madam Beni-Enma is apparently nowhere to be found. I'm afraid my suspicions would seem to be correct.

？！

Wait, chirp. You can't go to the madam's room now, chirp.

I wish I could cover it up, but we sparrows are no good at fibbing, so I'm just going to tell you that the food poisoning last night is the madam's fault, chirp.

Chirp, I'd rather you not see her now, Fujimaru. It would only make her feel even worse, chirp.

Fou. Fo fou?

Is that true, Lord Sparrow? I can't believe a chef of Madam Beni's skill would make such an egregious error in cooking.

No, no, chirp! Of course she didn't cook the dish that made all those people sick, chirp!

But she's still responsible for it, chirp. She's the one who mismanaged the ingredients, chirp.

？！

I see. So she made an administrative mistake. True, knowing the madam, I can see how she would feel personally responsible.

While you, I, and indeed most people may not hold her responsible, I doubt the same is true for her, given her own high standards for herself.

Tell me, young sparrow, would the madam happen to be at Rashomon now, by any chance?

Ch-chirrrp!?

How did you know, Fionnma? Is that salmon still swimming around in your head, chirp?

Hardly. I just figured that if any Servant were to do something like that, it would be her.

It's not unlike stacking blocks on top of one another; or words, in this case. Once they're arranged properly, it's easy for anyone to see what they mean.

Fujimaru, as Lady Beni-Enma's Master, you must know a fair amount of her story.

She is one of the most well-known Heroic Spirits in Japanese folklore. The Tongue-Cut Sparrow, was it?

Her history is quite long and storied, so let's take the events of her life one at a time.

She was sold to a brothel at a young age, where she was forced to endure horrific treatment at her employers' hands.

They crushed her throat... Cut off her tongue...

...so on the brink of death, she summoned up the last of her strength to escape.

In my reading of the tale, I don't see this escape as her risking her life. Rather, I think she simply wanted to choose where she would die for herself.

After all, she must have known her little broken-down body would never last through the night.

And as fate would have it, when she ran into the mountains, she ended up wandering into a mayoiga...

...a haunted house that tested anyone who entered it, and killed them if they failed. There, she met her end.

She died all by herself, without a single comforting word. It must have been a sad and lonesome end to her life.

？！

But, as I believe they say in your country, one person's trash is another person's treasure.

A Jizou, a kind of deity in Japan that looks after children, took pity on her and reincarnated her...

...into a lesser hell as a sparrow oni.

It is here I feel I should remind you that time does not exist in hell the way it does in our world.

Although the little girl we now know as Beni-Enma died during Japan's Edo period, she was reincarnated in hell before the Edo period had even begun.

I expect that was done to cleanse her of her human karma; to truly wipe her slate clean, so to speak.

In time, this red sparrow oni forgot about her life as a human, and went on to become a hard worker in hell.

She did everything from helping to guide souls across the Sanzu River, to looking after the tormentor demons in Children's Limbo.

Word of the hardworking sparrow traveled all across hell until eventually, Great King Enma adopted her as his child.

From there, he lovingly trained her in the art of Battoujutsu, where she learned to cut off the tongues of anyone caught lying...

...and raised her into a judge overseeing hell itself.

He was so proud of her accomplishments that he gave her his personal Enma ledger and sage cloak.

And so, Beni-Enma, the Tongue-Cut Sparrow who caused even great oni to quake in fear, was born.

However, although Great King Enma was very happy with her skills, he must not have cared for the idea of his darling daughter being a dreaded arbiter of hell...

...because he soon ordered her to oversee the mayoiga back on the surface.

In time, the mayoiga left to her care became the Sparrow's Inn described in Japanese folklore, which she ran under the name "Enma-tei."

However, at some point, for some reason or other...

...she went down to visit a nearby human village, and ended up captured and tortured by a human.

The details are the same as what's depicted in the tale of the Tongue-Cut Sparrow.

At any rate, that is the story I learned at the Enma-tei of how Lady Beni-Enma came to be who she is.

Does that sound right to you, little sparrow?

How do you know so much about her, chirp? Have you been stalking her, chirp?

It's because I support the Enma-tei wholeheartedly. There aren't many safe otherworldly places humans can stumble into, after all.

Now then. Fujimaru, Diarmuid, is there anything that stood out to you in my recounting of Madam Beni's story?

Don't be shy. Anything at all will do.

Fou, fou! (Special Translation: There's another oni like that here in Chaldea!)

You've never heard of Great King Enma's Enma ledger before, chirp? It's the notebook that describes everything a dead soul did during their lifetime, chirp.

That's why they can't lie to him; because the ledger always contains the truth, chirp.

That ledger reveals all the sins one committed while they were alive. It's the final weapon of hell, chirp!

？！

She was not originally born to oni-kind. She was a human who was transformed into one.

And so, the Enma ledger is a treasure containing untold amounts of top secret information.

By stacking these words together, we are soon reminded of a certain Heroic Spirit.

Ibaraki-Douji: leader of oni and thieves, and above all, an oni who remains decidedly unrepentant.

The way I see it, it was only a matter of time before she made some sort of move on the good madam.

...If I may, Fionn mac Cumhaill...

...There's actually one more thing from Madam Beni's backstory that stood out to me.

You said that her tongue was cut out back when she was human.

Has it been restored now that she's a Heroic Spirit?

...

I'm afraid not, Diarmuid. And it never will be.

You see, her tongue being cut is an inextricable factor in her being a Heroic Spirit.

That's why it can never be restored, no matter what sort of healing spells one might try.

For if it were, that would mean by definition that she was no longer the Tongue-Cut Sparrow.

Then, in that case...how does she season her cooking?

Needless to say, it is impossible to taste without a tongue. So if she is still missing hers...

？！

Good question. Madam Beni is indeed missing her sense of taste, which is, of course, a huge disadvantage for a chef.

So I cannot help but deeply respect the fact that she has become such an expert in the kitchen that she now has her own cooking classes.

At any rate, I think that covers everything I needed to tell you before we begin.

Standing by and letting Madam Beni fight this difficult battle alone would go against every principle I hold dear. Come, Master. What do you say we go poke our noses into her business?

A Reality Marble. Ibaraki-Douji's mindscape is manifesting as an alternate world.

Then, is this the power of Madam Beni's precious Enma ledger at work?

Of course. It may not be as powerful as a Holy Grail, but as a magical tool once possessed by the great King of Hell himself who gave it to his daughter, it's still nothing to be trifled with.

So an oni of some renown would be well within her means to use it for something like this. Isn't that right, Lord Tawara?

Indeed! This Bounded Field was oni-created. It must be a mayoiga connecting reality and the afterworld!

It may not bear a grudge, but it is still permeated with a kind of gloom. And this smell... Is that alcohol? No, wait. I think it's...azuki?

Ugh, that damn Ibaraki-Douji. Is she trying to go back to her old oni ways?

Chirp? Who's this guy, chirp?

Since he's carrying a bag of rice, I'm guessing he's from the rice shop, chirp?

Though from the way he's baring his chest, he might just be some kind of pervert, chirp.

If you're just here to make a delivery, would you mind using the back entrance by the kitchen, chirp?

？！

Hahaha, right you are! Making deliveries is hard work. Sometimes, it's just easier to do it with your shirt off!

Lord mac Cumhaill there asked if I could help, and since I had nothing better to do, I readily agreed.

Oh, you can just call me "Rice Guy," by the way. That's all the name I need here.

Oh, and one more thing: make sure you don't tell the madam about me, all right?

That goes for you too, Fujimaru. Whatever you do, do not reveal my True Name here.

？！

Oh, let's not get into that now. It's not really a topic for polite company, you see. And more importantly

It looks like they're wasting no time rolling out the welcome wagon for us! I see a Saber, a Lancer, an Archer... That's quite the opponent assortment!

Hahaha, I take it you saw this sort of thing coming when you asked for my help?

All right then, I'll go ahead and take care of the Saber oni. It should make for a good warm-up for my bow before we teach the big kahuna a lesson!

I'll handle the Lancer oni. Fionn mac Cumhaill, would you deal with the oni bringing up the rear?

Of course. All right, Master, let's see how well you can command all three of us!

It's the affinity between an oni and hell, chirp. They make for an almost unbeatable combination, chirp.

Talk about having the home ground advantage. This must mean the treasure Ibaraki-Douji stole from the madam really is

Indeed. The only thing that would let her command oni this powerful is Madam Beni's Enma ledger.

This is much worse than I had anticipated.

No wonder this is beyond Lady Beni-Enma's capacity. I'm not sure the four of us together are up to the task.

Come on, we need to make sure the madam is safe. I just hope we're not too late...!

Hahahaha! This heat! These flames! How do you like my new unstoppable power!?

I didn't use to put much stock in those old tales about trials and judgments in hell, but this one turned out to be way better than I expected!

You're even more of a fool than I thought, Ibaraki! I see I have no choice but to sever both of your arms!

Enjaku Nobori Hina! Followed by Oroshi Kaze! Try this sparrow whirlwind on for size!

Hahaha, too easy! So much for your vaunted sparrow swordplay!

I usually couldn't keep up with sword strokes that fast, but it looks like my body just moves on its own now!

In fact...

I can't stop it from moving! What's going on!? I'm starting to scare meee!

Is this because I misused Enma's ledger!? Am I getting my jigoku deserts!?

But why!? All I did was try oneOkay, threeOkay, ten secret techniques from it!

...I had a feeling things might turn out this way.

You've become a textbook example of digging your own grave. I'm amazed someone as thoughtless as you was ever able to lead a gang of oni.

I guess you must be one of those oni whose true talents only shine when they've got lesser ones working for them.

Never mind the psychoanalysis! Help me out here! My back muscles are so sore they feel like they're going to burst!

I do want to be a great oni, but I don't want to end up as one of those tormentors of hell that's all muscle!

I'm sorry, red lady oni! I'd take it all back if I could! I should've known better than to steal!

So please, help me! Save meee! I'll give you your ledger right back, I promise!

？！

Master!? Lord Fionn!? Lord Diarmuid!? What are you all doing here!? And who is

Umm, hello there, Heroic Spirit I've never seen before. Are you here from the rice shop?

Hahaha. Sure, let's go with that.

We heard you were in danger, Madam, so we came to help.

What were you thinking, Gokan!? I thought I told you not to tell Master about this! I can clean up my own mess!

I didn't tell them anything, Madam, chirp. Fionnma figured it out on his own, chirp.

Watching him in action was like watching a beautiful salmon surging upstream, chirp.

It makes me wonder if he might have once been the captain or commander or something of a large organization in his own day, chirp.

Hahaha, come now, you're exaggerating. I wouldn't say I did anything special at all.

That said, I do like to think I'm a reasonable man. If you wish to spread those rumors far and wide, who am I to stop you?

Anyway, I'm afraid you'll just have to resign yourself to accepting our help, Madam Beni. I've already figured out about eighty percent of the situation, anyway.

And good luck getting Master and the others to go back to their rooms before this matter is dealt with.

？！

...I see. Well, if this is all Lord Fionn's idea, I guess I'm in no position to refuse!

Chirp, I'll even go ahead and make a formal request. Would you lend a hand in killing Ibaraki-Douji!?

Wha!? I asked you to stop me, not kill me! I'm not even gonna drop anything this time!

So it would seem! Thank you all so much for your help!

I was planning to handle this on my own, but your assistance was invaluable. Chirp chirp, thank you.

No problem! I'm just glad you're okay, Madam! Now the cafeteria should be back to its old self!

But I do have to ask you, Ibaraki-Douji: Why did you embarrass yourself like this?

Ha! If you think I'm gonna thank you for stopping me, you thought wrong! If anyone's an oni around here, it's you guys for ganging up and whaling on me like there's no tomorrow!

Still...I will apologize for stealing the Enma ledger. It was just on a whim, but I still feel bad about it.

The red lady oni carries it around with her constantly. Now that I'm back to my senses, I know why that is.

One day, I noticed her writing something down in a notebook...

...while she was studying the expressions on the Servants having lunch in the cafeteria.

(That's right. She's the daughter of the King of Hell, isn't she?)

(So that must be the famous Enma ledger! The notebook that has records of everyone's lives!)

(I bet she uses it to torture Heroic Spirits when they fall into hell, so they have no choice but to obey her.)

(This is perfect. I bet it lists Raikou's weaknesses... Kintoki's weaknesses... Maybe even Tsuna's!)

By the time those thoughts had crossed my mind, my hands had already made off with the notebook.

I've always been great at pickpocketing wallets and such from kimono sleeves, after all.

？！

So that's why you stole my notebook? Then you made a big mistake in more ways than one.

Yes, Papa's Enma ledger does contain every deed every person on Earth has ever done.

But while my notebook might be from hell, it's also just an ordinary notebook that you can find anywhere.

The type that even an apprentice prostitute who can't yet read or write might have. It's not the real deal.

Well, I suppose it does technically have a section for sins, even if it's not in the way you thought.

Anyway, your misusing of my notebook for your own ends is clearly what led to last night's food poisoning incident, as well as your rampage just now.

Y-yeah, I know that now.

After I stole your notebook, I transformed into you and snuck into the kitchen to make a bunch of things from what was written in it...

...but when I got back to my room and ate them, my heart started beating erratically, my guts started wrenching, and blood came pouring out my nose!

And if all that weren't bad enough, you guys came here and ganged up on me! Well, no more! I'm done with this crap!

Here, you can have your stupid notebook back! Some sorry excuse for treasure it turned out to be!

Huh!? When did you undo your ropes!?

What are you, stupid!? How many times do you think you bastards have captured me before!? I can practically undo ropes like this in my sleep now!

Muahahaha! See ya, Western swordsmen! See ya, gullible Master!

Oh, also, you guys didn't beat me at all! I only lost to that oni's sinful secret arts (read: snacks)...

...and to Fujiwara-no-Hidesato there! Basically, I got nothing to be ashamed of!

I mean, even freakin' Raikou's scared of Mr. Rice Guy, so you can't blame me for not sticking around! Muahahaha!

Damn, she said my True Name before I could stop her. Trust an oni to get a parting shot at your weak spot.

Th-th-then, does that mean you really are Lord Tawara Touta!?

Yes, that's me. I'd heard you held me in fairly high regard...

...so I've been avoiding you to make sure I didn't end up sullying your impressions of me.

But when Lord mac Cumhaill told me what had happened, I was so overcome with the urge to help that I couldn't resist.

I hope you can forgive me for sticking my nose in, Lady Beni-Enma. I never meant to dishonor you.

D-d-don't be ridiculous, chirp! You've honored me more than I can say! I'm the one who should be apologizing!

Not only did my carelessness end up making trouble for everyone at Chaldea, now I've gone and made you dirty your hands too...

I can't thank you all enough...

Ha ha ha, not at all, Madam Beni. We're the ones who are grateful.

After all, we wouldn't be eating nearly as well if it wasn't for you!

Frankly, I don't think this comes close to paying back the debt we owe you, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks so!

Indeed. I'm especially fond of the way you always manage to cook salmon just right. I hope you'll be willing to teach me the trick sometime.

I'm especially fond of your...shishi niku, I think it's called? There's just something about it that inspires me to fight.

It would absolutely make my day if you were to add it to the standard menu.

？！

Oops. My apologies for the stomach growls. We've been in Master's room since the morning, you see.

Hmm, it seems we're in quite the pickle now. Ibaraki-Douji was such a fearsome opponent that we can hardly raise a hand!

I think we need a delicious and nutritious meal, on the double. Wouldn't you all agree?

？！

Hehe. Well in that case, I guess I'd better get cooking! Treating you all to a proper feast is the least I can do!

Thank you all again for being so considerate of me. I really, really appreciate it!

As a proprietress, I feel blessed getting to spend each day with customers as wonderful as all of you!

...

Aww, what's the matter, Ibaraki? Why the long face? All this peace and quiet boring you out of your skull?

Oh, hi, Shuten. It's nothing, really. At least, I don't think it is...

I just feel like I've seen something I shouldn't, is all.

You know the little sparrow oni? The one they say came from hell?

I got a look at the notebook she's always carrying around...and it was chock-full of recipes.

Oh, right, the little shrimp. Well what's so surprising? Anyone who's good at cooking's probably got a notebook like that.

But it wasn't just recipes. She'd also written down how different people reacted to a given recipe, and things she could do to improve it the next time.

Her handwriting was horrible, but she still wrote down a ton of crazy detailed notes. It's almost scary how closely she'd have to be watching to notice some of the things she did.

Anyway, I finally realized why she goes to all that trouble. It's 'cause she doesn't have a tongue.

Well, she might still have some sense of taste, since I think only half of it got cut off...

Then again, she might've lost it entirely. Either way, the fact that her cooking is still so good is amazing.

I mean, it's gotta be just as hard as a blind guy painting a colorful masterpiece.

When I think about how hard she must've trained to get as good as she is, well...it freaked me out.

And then, it kinda made me, uh...sad? I'm not really sure what it was I felt.

But, I think the idea of working yourself to the bone to learn to do something you can't, smiling even when you feel like you're about to collapse...

Well, it kind of feels like something I used to do way back when I was alive...

What a silly little thing to say. You've always been a free-spirited oni leader.

You'd go around fighting Kyoto's guards, taking whatever you wanted, eating whoever got in your way...

You were an oni's oni, through and through. Hell, you were practically the definition of one.

There's nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with that at all. In fact, that's the Ibaraki I like best.

That's the Ibaraki I've always enjoyed being around.

Really, isn't that why you left the mansion to begin with? Because you wanted to have fun instead of working hard?

...Yeah. Yeah, you're right!

When my mom sent me out into the world, she demanded I be as proud as I could be of being an oni!

Man, I can't believe an oni of my caliber let myself get swept up in some stupid sentiment!

I knew I could count on you, Shuten! One of these days, I'm gonna learn how to be as light on my feet as you are!

...My, my. I never would've thought Ibaraki and the little oni would have so much in common.

If Tsuna or the like were to show up now, it might just push her over the edge.

Ugh, this sucks. I usually love me some gloom and doom, but not when it comes to Ibaraki...