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After the Watari introduced him to a mushishi and left him in the man’s care, it didn’t take Ginko long to learn how the world worked.
His first master discovered the white haired boy’s unusual ability to attract mushi within weeks, each area they stayed more than a few days in soon swarmed with mushi. Of course this was always a good thing for those who called themselves mushishi, good business until the problem got too large to handle.
The first case his first master was called on was nothing more than a simple disease brought on by a pre-existing mushi infestation. Of course his master made a big deal about this disease, proclaiming the great lengths he’d have to go through to develop a cure and how expensive the materials were.
The village head of course was willing to pay out for the medicine, Ginko was tasked to collecting the ingredients quietly and bringing them to his master. By sundown they’d made more than enough for the entire village, the herb grew naturally in the area and when mixed with a few others thrown in it was a very effective cure that purged the mushi fairly quickly. But as soon as they were healed it wasn’t long before people started relapsing, requiring higher dosages and bringing in higher profits.
The cause of this was the mushishi’s apprentice.
Despite the purging effects of the medicine, the mushishi’s apprentice attracted more of the mushi in greater numbers. Soon Ginko’s first master was running out of supplies and raising his prices astronomically high for the premium dosages. The disease was never fully cured as his first master simply gave up on the case. Declaring that the area was too infested with mushi and advised everyone to leave or continue to suffer.
It was a week later when the next village they worked in soon became overrun.
The child was a cash cow and it was a good income for them both. They were never hungry with the money that the mushishi was bringing in.
“Isn’t it wrong for me to stay in a place so long?” Ginko’s quiet voice broke the silence across a camp fire. “All I bring is more mushi.”
“Nonsense, I can fix the problems you bring quite easily. As long as you don’t stay forever, a week isn’t going to destroy an entire town.” His master waved off Ginko’s concern.
“But the village you said was too highly infested…” Ginko trailed off. He’d known that staying in a place for too long was going to cause trouble and they had definitely stayed too long in that village.
“You want to eat don’t you?” His master leaned toward the fire. “You need money to eat and a mushishi can’t offer their services for free. All you’re doing is ensuring you get a full belly, you’re not really upsetting anything.”
“But those people that were sick...”
“They had plenty of medicine and since we left it should have cleared out by now.” His master frowned, clearly the boy hadn’t learned how the world worked just yet. “Just remember you have a gift to be a great mushishi, you’ll always have a full belly as long as you can sell your services.”
For now that eased Ginko’s mind, but still the guilt lingered from village to village when he brought too many mushi. It was another sickness like the first case he could remember, except he’d been there too long. The sickness got out of hand very quickly, the purge no longer had the desired effect.
It was natural for the villagers to be angry with the mushishi, his medicine had helped at first but then it got worse soon after. One man claimed that the mushishi had a spirit with him that was cursing the village, that he’d heard from another village who had bought medicine from a mushishi and never seemed to recover from the illness. This rumour was quickly spread and grew into something similar to what was actually going on. Rather than the people just being ripped off and endangered by the mushishi, it was said that the mushishi had brought along a spirit to bring disease to their village.
People were frightened of Ginko and from the village rumours spread across the area of a mushishi traveling with a white haired spirit that would curse your village. Eventually his first master slipped away in the night leaving Ginko with nothing but the dying embers of last night’s fire.
The first village he came across by himself was not very receptive to him, stones and sticks were thrown once they discovered Ginko was very much a real person and not a spirit.
His second master was the one who patched up a bleeding head, the mushishi seemed friendly enough and also had heard the rumours of a white haired spirit that brought curses to whatever place he touched.
Ginko wanted to believe that this man was different from the first, that the Watari had simply made a judgement error. But as he would learn of the course of years, humans could disappoint him greatly.
This man took much longer however to reveal his true colours, he had taught Ginko quite a bit about mushi and ways to purge them from humans. As well as which mushi were predators of other mushi, his second master taught him much of the mushi world. It was subtle but Ginko felt himself being used once more to attract mushi for business for his second master.
His second master expressed a deep sorrow for abusing the unique ability that Ginko had and promised to not do it again.
And they continued their travels until at one point they found themselves short on work and short on money. Not even harking the unusual wares was bringing in anything, people had no need for paranormal items or ingredients for a love potion. It was harvest season and everyone was focused on that.
There was so much food, but not a single sen to spend on it themselves.
His second master pleaded with Ginko for them to stay, to cause a problem just so they could gather money to eat.
Hunger overtook Ginko’s better judgement at that time and they stayed continuing to try and sell their unusual wares. Soon enough the mushi began to cluster in the area and strange illnesses and the like began to crop up. How fortunate for the village that there was a mushishi staying there at the time of their need.
The problem did quickly turn into something larger that Ginko’s second master had not considered, the local mushi were a very aggressive plant mushi that began to turn rice fields sour. With restless villagers watching their once beautiful fields turn brown and rot, his second master suggested they leave before the damage to the village was permanent.
Ginko and his second master were confronted as to why the crops were going bad all of a sudden. People were demanding money back from his second master, who was unable to halt the slow creeping rot of the fields as he promised.
His second master could have done as the first did, it would have been an easier transition. But rather than risk his reputation of being a poor mushishi, Ginko was far easier to throw to the pack.
“My apprentice! My apprentice attracts mushi! I had thought to purge him from this curse but even he is too far gone for me to save. This village is a clear sign that he has no other fate!” His second master suddenly shouted to the restless crowd.
It didn’t take the crowd long to chase Ginko out, with his former second master standing in the crowd offering to heal the land in exchange for lodging and food.
Cursed. It was such an ugly word, it was even worse hearing other people say it. For the next few days Ginko walked constantly, barely stopping to rest or find what little food the earth had to offer.
The temptations of main roads and villages were put aside, he would end up hurting more people or worse finding people that would use him to harm others. So he ventured deeper into the woods on paths only used by animals and hunters, it was safer than main roads.
But oh so lonely.