Before Hiyori's eyes was an endless abyss of darkness, where no matter where she looked, all she saw was pitch black.

In this unfamiliar yet somewhat familiar space of darkness, Hiyori couldn't help but wonder where exactly she was.

At the same time she had this thought, the scene suddenly brightened and a spacious courtyard came into view.

This is...

The scene before her seemed familiar, and after a moment of realization, she discovered that it was the large courtyard of her own home. Familiar pond, familiar buildings, everything was so familiar yet there was something different about it.

As she pondered about this, the scene before her changed as if someone suddenly switched channels on a television.

In an instant, the scene before her underwent a drastic change.

With the appearance of the new scene, what Hiyori saw was...

A little girl, a little girl wearing a shrine maiden's outfit, that...

Isn't it me?

And it was me from my childhood.

Hiyori immediately realized this fact.

The little girl was standing alone in the courtyard, waving a piece of paper in her hand ceaselessly.

Observing the little girl's actions, Hiyori quickly discovered that the piece of paper was a talisman used to summon shikigami.

So that's it, Hiyori once did this.

As if to confirm Hiyori's memory, despite the little girl continuously failing, she still persisted, constantly failing and starting over. She never thought of giving up. What was it that she was trying to accomplish at that time? What was the reason behind her refusal to give up?

Hiyori couldn't help but contemplate as she watched her younger self.

Just then, it seemed that the little girl's practice had paid off as she successfully summoned a shikigami. However, it wasn't the same shikigami she used now, it was just a paper doll.

That's right, ordinary shikigami are made by injecting magical power into paper dolls made by onmyojis. Of course, it's not just regular paper. Another type of shikigami is a contract signed by an onmyoji and a youkai.

But it seemed that the little girl hadn't reached that stage yet, so she was still using paper dolls she made herself. Moreover, because they were at a low level, they didn't even have a human form. It was as if they were just large folded paper dolls that could stand, lacking the appearance of a human.

But even so, the little girl was still very happy. As a result, she happily ran into the house, ready to show her family her accomplishment.

And at this moment, the scene before Hiyori's eyes moved along with the little girl.

After passing through the corridor, they arrived at the entrance of the hall. Before the little girl entered, she heard the voices of the people inside.

"Oh... Second Miss is amazing! She can already summon shikigami with human forms? And she can control them too?"

"Indeed, Second Miss is truly talented. She's like a once-in-a-century genius, a pride of the family. With this, those from the branch families won't have any complaints."

"Ah, it's like that legendary Sword Sorcerer."

"I've heard of that. It's said to be the strongest Sword Sorcerer in the history of the main family."

"Are you talking about the founder?"

"Yes, come to think of it, I've heard about that person too."

"But all in all, it seems like that person is just a legend, perhaps just a fictional character created by our ancestors."

"Well, that's true. But come to think of it, we really don't know, do we?"

"Don't know what?"

"The first generation."

"The first generation?"

"Yeah, regardless of who that person is, every family has a first generation, right?"

"Well, that's not bad."

"But the truth is, not only do we know nothing about the first generation, but we also have no knowledge about the history of our own family..."