
by ShikaSenbei
Takeda Katsuyori retreated into an unknown cedar forest with seppuku in mind. Instead, he cut off his topknot and, to his own shame, admitted that his desire to live outweighed the principles of bushidō.His decision caught the attention of Shika Kami, a five-hundred-year-old forest deity who watches over the woodland and has witnessed the rise and fall of countless clans and dynasties.Expect: Japanese feudal history and folklore Slapstick humour and immature jokes Fantasy romance Reincarnation Violence and horror Sexual content *Sexually explicit content and gore is against Royal Road's guideline. To access uncensored content, please consider subscribing to my Patreon. Author's note: I gave RR a try, but it’s just not the right platform for my writing. I’m doing way better on Substack and Instagram, so once the Sakai arc wraps and shoutout swaps are done, the story’s getting stubbed. If you still want to keep reading, the rest is available on Patreon. You're also reading the first version of this story. I have since updated the story with improved character development.
No streak history
Rank updated 13 Aug 2026, 04:15 UTC
Entry forecast updated 13 Aug 2026, 04:15 UTC
Overall Rising Stars shadow rank
deep field · ~#5967 of 7,531 · 5917 below #50
By genre
beats 90% of similar stories
not enough data yet
beats 23% of similar stories
Hidden gem — exposure is the bottleneck
Readers who find this story follow it at a high rate; there just aren't enough of them. In our cohort data, near-daily posting lifted the odds of reaching 25 followers from ~0% to 17% — more chapters, shoutout swaps and ads buy the eyeballs this conversion deserves.
At this conversion, the Horror Rising Stars bar (≈1 new followers/day) costs about 78 views/day — the story currently gets ~21.
Benchmarks: 8,060 active Royal Road stories, percentiles within the 20–49 chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views over the recent window.
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