"It means you took the wrong road from the start."
I didn’t know how they had ended up here in the first place, though.
I set aside the meat I was eating and observed the sisters’ expressions.
They reacted very differently to my answer.
Shinobu scowled, clearly disappointed by my words.
*Such a childlike response,* I thought.
Kanae, however, wore a different look.
She fell silent, deep in thought, as if something I said had sparked an idea.
And then—
"So…"
Kanae raised her hand gently before speaking.
"That doesn’t mean there’s no way at all, right? You said we took the wrong path, but you didn’t say there was no path to follow."
…Well, she was right.
There was indeed a way.
And, surprisingly, it was quite simple.
Join the Demon Slayer Corps.
Everything one needs to hunt Demons—the training, weapons like the Nichirin Blade, and a teacher to guide them in Total Concentration Breathing—comes from the Corps.
All the tools capable of killing Demons are provided by the organization.
And they are all yours once you become a member…
In short, enter the Demon Slayer Corps, and you’ll gain exactly what you seek.
But there was one problem…
How to find them.
Joining would solve everything, but if you can’t find the entrance, nothing even begins.
The Demon Slayer Corps was not officially recognized by the government.
It operated in the shadows, a clandestine organization.
No other force could rival their skill in cleaning up after Demon attacks or their stealthy operations—so much so that tales of their deeds had faded into mere bedtime stories about ruthless monsters.
Even in the distant past five hundred years ago—before the Silver Unit was formed—people hadn’t heard of the Corps or Demons for decades. Whether it was fourteen or seventeen years, I can’t recall precisely.
And after I left the Corps and lived another five centuries, I rarely even encountered Demon Slayers.
"But if you carry a weapon that can kill Demons, doesn’t that mean you were once a Demon Slayer?"
Shinobu’s eyes narrowed as she delivered that sharp observation.
But…
"I left the Corps myself, five hundred years ago. As for where they are now, I have no idea."
I shook my head in response.
They say that in ten years, the landscape can change completely. I had lived another fifty times that span.
There was no guarantee that the Rengoku estate or the house where Yoriichi once lived still stood where they had.
In the five hundred years since Rengoku and Yoriichi died, I had never bothered to look up their locations. I had forgotten them entirely.
*If I open the book of my memory, I should find it. Forgetting is just pushing a thought to the back of the mind.*
*But I can’t see the location.*
*Damn.*
In short, I was lost.
"So…"
I opened my mouth to speak again, but then I clamped it shut.
The two simply stared at me in silence, their lips sealed.
It was as if the conversation had abruptly ended and no one knew what to say next.
…
As the silence stretched, I finally broke the tension by shouting into the void.
"Well, what else?"
The silence shattered, and the girls reacted instantly.
"Five hundred years old? Exactly how old are you?!"
Shinobu jumped, pointing at me in sheer astonishment.
"Uh… five hundred? Then… you’re not Mr. Tsugikuni, but… Grandfather Tsugikuni?"
Kanae fumbled, looking as if her internal wiring had snapped.
They seemed more shocked that I was over five hundred than the fact that I couldn’t find the Corps.
Hard to believe? It was the truth.
Living for five centuries is no small feat.
Besides, even as an immortal Demon, I had lived a very long time.
Only a handful of figures could claim to have lived longer.
Kibutsuji Muzan, who had lived a thousand years, and perhaps Tamayo, who might have been my contemporary.
Then there were Uzu… and Amano, who were older than me in their human lives.
But none of that mattered now.
"That’s beside the point."
We needed to discuss where to find the Corps first.
Why were we drifting off-topic?
I was about to scold them to stay on track when—
"No, this is more important!"
Shinobu had clearly forgotten all about the Corps’ location.
I had hoped Kanae, at least, would show some maturity, but—
"So then, Grandfather Tsugikuni?"
Damn it, even you.
Kanae’s stunned face, still unable to process the shock, was enough to crush any remaining hope I had.
"Just call me whatever you want…"
I buried my face in my hands and sighed.
@@@
A towering monk strode toward the house, wielding a strange weapon: a chain linking a poleaxe and iron horns.
The blind man’s name was Himejima Gyomei.
He was one of the Corps’ silent pillars of strength, a warrior who led the clandestine operations that upheld this era.
He must have just returned from a mission—dust clung to his uniform.
But he didn’t seem to mind.
It was simply another day’s work, another familiar scene.
Yet today felt different.
Because in the back of his mind lingered the memory of that night’s events.
*'That person saved us! So please, stop... stop fighting!'
A child had screamed at the fight with explosive emotion, chastising both me and the Demon.
*'Then I shall leave those children’s safety in your hands.'
The Demon, unlike the others, held no anger or resentment toward me; it simply passed the choice back to me.
The memory of those two figures had been a jarring experience for Himejima.
In his recollection, the child seemed so fragile, yet cruel in her own way.
But that child had not been merely pitiful.
Though her voice had trembled with pleas, she had faced the danger directly and resolved to stand her ground.
Demons were detestable in every way—vile and merciless.
Yet that Demon had been different.
It had not acted selfishly or lied; it swung its blade without malice and handed every decision back to the other.
And then…
He shook his head and checked his weapon.
After all, it had been nothing more than a dream that came alive at night.
The stinging sensation in his fist from striking the Demon’s skull still lingered.
He could never forget the word 'monster' spoken like an executioner’s decree to the child he had saved…
He was drenched in a terror that still haunted his ears.
It would never fade for the rest of his life.
So Himejima had buried that nightmarish dream back into the depths of his memory, just as one would push away a bad dream.
It was nothing but a dream—a dream that would vanish like a bubble.
He believed he would never meet those girls, sent off to their relatives by the Silver Unit, ever again.
To be honest, he didn’t want to get involved with children anymore.
That was why he hadn’t even asked their names.
And it was the same for Tsugikuni.
Or so he had thought.
But then he confronted that memory again.
He had sensed movement by the door and thought it might be a visitor…
"This is Himejima Gyomei’s residence, is it not?"
He heard that voice again—one he never expected to hear outside of a dream.
And then…
"Watch closely! And don’t tell a soul!"
That figure was there too.
In the pitch-black darkness where he could see nothing at all…
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