At the Butterfly Estate, Sanemi reluctantly submitted to treatment.
He lay on the bed wrapped in bandages like a mummy.
Hozuki brought over a plate of washed cherries and sat down at his bedside.
Sanemi glanced at the fruit and reached out to grab one, only for Hozuki to smack his hand away without mercy.
"Kanae said you've got over eighty broken bones, extensive burns, and several puncture wounds in your abdomen. The fact that you're still alive is already a miracle. Stop moving around."
"Then what's the point of bringing fruit over here?" Sanemi grumbled thickly. "Are you making fun of me?"
"I'm feeding you, of course." Resting one hand against her cheek, Hozuki smiled sweetly.
Sanemi's eyes flew wide open, as though he were roaring in silent outrage.
What do you mean, don't assume the worst of people?
You black-hearted woman! This is definitely mockery. Definitely!
Unable to do anything but seethe, Sanemi finally bit down on the cherry Hozuki held out with her chopsticks, crushing the fruit in his mouth as if venting his frustration on it. Unfortunately, the force made his jaw start aching again.
Every medic who passed by cast envious glances at him.
"He's truly blessed by heaven, being personally looked after by Lady Thunder Hashira."
"Lady Thunder Hashira is such an incredible beauty. If she fed me fruit, I'd probably die of happiness on the spot!"
"That guy really has no idea how lucky he is. I don't know what a disaster like him did to win Lady Thunder Hashira's favor."
Damn it.
So this is your real objective, isn't it?
From afar, the Thunder Hashira looked gentle and tenderly attentive.
From up close, she was all teasing and ridicule.
It made Sanemi want to rip off his bandages and tell everyone they had gotten the completely wrong idea.
"But with your strength, Sanemi, you wouldn't end up in this state from dealing with ordinary demons, would you?" Hozuki asked. "What happened? One of the Twelve Kizuki?"
"It was a… very strange bastard," Sanemi said, his voice grave beneath the bandages. "All the injured people here were hurt because of that thing. The only reason they weren't killed was pure luck."
"Did it have characters in its eyes?"
"Lower Rank Six."
"Only Lower Rank Six?" Hozuki shook her head, disappointed, but immediately sensed the contradiction. If it truly had only been Lower Rank Six, the Butterfly Estate should not have been filled with this many wounded. With Sanemi's current strength, even if he couldn't necessarily kill a Lower Rank demon, he should never have ended up this badly.
"My trainer was killed by that thing." Fury simmered in Sanemi's voice. "He was just some old man missing an arm, only fit to be a trainer now—but he used to be the Wind Hashira!"
A Hashira-level swordsman had died.
Hozuki frowned.
At once, she thought of the fallen Rengoku Shinjuro.
A tense, uneasy atmosphere spread between her and Sanemi.
If it were truly only Lower Rank Six, it should have been impossible for it to kill a former Hashira, even one who had lost an arm and long since stopped fighting demons.
After killing Lower One, Hozuki had already formed a clear understanding of the upper limit of the Lower Ranks' power. Among the Hashira who attended the Hashira meeting, Lower Ranks were little more than trash to be cut down casually. Something like that should never have been enough to threaten the life of a former Wind Hashira, much less cause this scale of casualties.
"Where did you encounter it?" Hozuki asked.
"Mount Kurama," Sanemi answered. "In the mountains near Kyoto."
"I see," Hozuki said softly.
"You've worked hard, Sanemi."
"The hell's that supposed to mean?" Sanemi sounded distinctly uncomfortable at her sudden words of concern. "And you… becoming a Hashira already, seriously. So tell me—did you do it by killing fifty demons, or by taking down one of the Twelve Kizuki?"
"I killed Lower One," Hozuki replied.
"For real… impressive." For once, Sanemi did not argue back. Hozuki could hear the faint note of bitterness in his voice. "We got driven into this state by a mere Lower Six, and meanwhile you've already killed Lower One by yourself."
"A demon capable of killing a Hashira swordsman could never be an ordinary Lower Rank." Hozuki resumed feeding him cherries. As the sweet flavor spread through his mouth, some of Sanemi's anger finally subsided—or perhaps the anesthetic was simply starting to take effect.
By the time Hozuki had fed an entire plate of cherries into him, the man had slipped into drugged unconsciousness.
After confirming he would not be waking anytime soon, Hozuki called over one of the Butterfly Estate's attendants.
"L-Lady Thunder Hashira, how may I help you?" The girl looked no older than thirteen or fourteen, and she was visibly nervous.
"All of the wounded here came from the battle at Mount Kurama?"
"Y-Yes! Twenty-one injured in total!" the girl replied, nodding quickly.
"Good, I understand. Thank you." Hozuki gently patted the girl on the head before leaving the room.
…
"Hozuki?" Kanae, who had been busy working, looked up as the young woman approached.
"Would it be possible to do the sampling earlier than planned, Kanae?" Hozuki asked.
"It's possible, yes—but what's wrong?" Kanae immediately noticed the change in the atmosphere around her.
"You… it's you…" One of the swordsmen lying in bed suddenly pointed at Hozuki. He had been given anesthetic and was no longer clear-headed. With his one remaining eye, he glared at her hatefully. "You demon! Demon! You're the one who killed everyone—go to hell!"
Kanae quickly restrained the man and soothed him back to sleep.
She, too, recognized that something was wrong.
"Mount Kurama?" Kanae turned to Hozuki. "That's where Lord Shinjuro…"
"Yes. That's the place." Hozuki nodded.
"If there's a demon there, then it has to be slain. We can't allow more casualties. I'm going to request permission to go."
Kanae fell silent for a moment before saying, "But under normal circumstances, if we haven't received direct orders from the Master, that means a Hashira has already been dispatched there. For the time being, our help shouldn't be necessary. Hozuki, in the Master's eyes, you may have a more important mission. Compared to the Lower Rank demon on Mount Kurama, Osaka—where an Upper Rank has appeared—is the truly dangerous place."
"That is where you're needed more."
Kanae took Hozuki's hand.
"Calm yourself. Your breathing is in complete disarray."
"A demon capable of killing a Hashira swordsman cannot possibly be just an ordinary Lower Rank," Hozuki said.
"Cases like this are rare," Kanae replied. "Usually, once a demon kills a Hashira in a place, it quickly disappears into hiding. But if it's showing up again in the exact same place so soon, then I think Mount Kurama may only be a decoy. The real place we should be watching is Osaka—the land where the Upper Rank was sighted."
Kanae guided Hozuki into a seat.
"I'll ask the Master to assign you to Mount Kurama on your behalf. But until we receive his orders, you are staying here."
"The Ubuyashiki family are the eyes and the mind of the Demon Slayer Corps. We are only the swords that carry out their will. So please, Hozuki—trust in the Master. The Ubuyashiki family has never once failed the Corps."
Author's note: Regarding the Demon Slayer Corps salary issue, the previous figure of 200,000 yen should have been converted into modern purchasing power, so I've revised it to 120 yen for the Taisho era. My apologies.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter108)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 26
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 32
Uma Musume: From Beginner 26
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