Demon Capital Slayer

Chapter 107 Echigoya Trip
Just like many things that people later take for granted.

The bright yellow copper bullets that modern people remember actually only began to be used in the 19th century.

Further back, lead bullets, which have low melting points and are easy to process, were used more often.

What Yu Jian saw at that moment was a severely deformed gray lead bullet.

The projectile, propelled by the gunpowder, easily pierced the wheel hub and struck the center of the axle with enough force to twist and break the axle, thus completely altering the vehicle's trajectory.

The person who fired that shot was trying to stop the steam turbine from going berserk.

In other words, even if Yu Jian hadn't done anything, the car wouldn't have hit him or the people behind him.

As for who he was protecting? Looking at Akemi, who was full of surprise but protecting the child beside her, Yujian immediately knew the answer.

"Back off." The boy waved for the others to disperse, then walked towards the accident scene with his sword.

He hadn't forgotten the strange behavior of the previous Yakuza driver.

The bulging bluish-black blood vessels and bloodshot eyes made him look nothing like a normal person.

"Be careful, I smell a strange odor, it might be a non-human, alien species."

Mr. Milo's words reached her ears at just the right time, and then she saw the white dog run in front of Akemi, lower its body and prepare to attack. Although it was very quiet, it had a calming and reassuring quality.

This made him marvel at how reliable this senior dog was, even though it was just a dog.

As for the non-human alien species mentioned by Dog-san, Yujian quickly saw its appearance.

"Hiss!" Accompanied by a strange growl, the twisted and deformed wreckage of the steam turbine was pushed aside from below, and a charred human figure crawled out on all fours.

Despite being severely burned by flames and high-temperature steam, he is still alive, and his wounds are even showing signs of healing, albeit slowly, but which can be observed with the naked eye.

Well, for a natural organism, this speed is ridiculously fast.

Is that why they are called 'alien species'?

"Ha!" The charred alien suddenly opened its mouth, the skin and flesh of its mouth and cheeks tearing continuously until its molars were exposed. Just like a snake that can dislocate its jaw, it opened its mouth to an angle beyond its limit.

At the same time, his muscles tensed up, and his charred skin cracked open, revealing the scarlet muscle texture underneath, with the broken white bones faintly visible.

People screamed at the sight, and the scene became incredibly chaotic.

But what truly caught Yujian's attention was the pair of extremely sharp, curved canines in the other's mouth.

Normal teeth don't look like this, and among the information he knew, the closest to this image was...

vampire?
The classic monster category immediately popped into Yujian's mind.

Ah, compared to the chaotic monsters in paintings, mad wanderers, and demonic sword demons, vampires, monsters that have been overused in various fantasy, magical, and even romance works, actually feel somewhat familiar.

It could be something else, after all, this thing doesn't seem to be afraid of sunlight.

As for silver and garlic, Ming Qing Shi was just a poor samurai on the roadside, with hardly any copper coins, let alone silver. And garlic was something ordinary people wouldn't carry around except when buying groceries.

Forget it, let's neutralize it first; there are underage children nearby.

"Unforgivable! I'll eat you! And everyone else!" Yakuza, seemingly transformed into a vampire, screamed.

then……

Then there is no more.

The next second, it could no longer feel its limbs.

The silver sword flashed rapidly several times, and all that could be heard by onlookers was the crisp sound of the hilt hitting the mouth of the scabbard when the sword was sheathed.

Immediately, the charred monster turned into a rolling potato, its hands and feet were neatly cut off, its teeth were smashed by the handle of a knife, and its remains were even covered with a tattered cloth to prevent it from frightening children.

What a weak vampire...

This monster was much faster than a normal person, but in Yu Jian's eyes, it was far inferior to the veiled swordsman after activating 'Divine Speed'. His eagle eyes captured every movement of the opponent, and he could even see the moment when the charred skin fragments fell.

Feeling a pang of emotion, Yu Jian did not linger any longer and immediately took Mingmei's hand and left quickly.

As for the remaining half, I believe someone will take care of it.

Sure enough, before he had gone far, he heard shouts coming from the other side: "We are the thieves who have been robbed!"

How interesting! This Edo of the Edo period not only has all kinds of steam-powered machinery, but also vampires operating in the shadows.

Yujian was quite certain that when he first encountered those Yakuza, they were all ordinary people, but in just half a day, some of them had turned into vampire-like monsters.

"Don't be careless. Based on an old dog's experience, the story of fate in this mortal world has most likely already begun." Milo ran and activated his telepathy.

"I never expected Miss Akemi's fate to be so significant. The 'shell' she's currently wearing might actually be a key figure."

"I wonder what kind of role you got in the script, kid. It's not like you're the male lead, is it? Woof hoo!"

Milo laughed loudly as he read. His words sounded like he was eliminating a correct answer first.

But Yu Jian was more curious about the various unfamiliar terms mentioned by Milo. Riddler, get out! Riddle Dog, no one is allowed either!
Now was not the time for chatting. After looking at Mingmei's overly flamboyant attire as a noblewoman from a martial arts family, he felt it would be better to keep a low profile.

“Um…” Akemi said weakly.

"What's wrong?" Yu Jian looked at her in surprise, feeling that Mingmei's appearance was completely different from what he remembered, and quite refreshing.

If possible, Yujian really wanted to find a camera to take a picture and then show it to Akemi-nee after she was restored to her original state.

Strange, malicious thoughts naturally arose, but Yu Jian immediately shook his head to put them behind him.

"Hand." Mingmei lowered her head, her cheeks flushed red as if they were about to bleed.

"Ah, my apologies." Despite saying this, Yujian did not let go, but instead forcefully led Akemi to a shop.

"Hey?"

"You're too conspicuous in your current outfit." Only then did Yu Jian release his grip.

"Is that so?" Akemi looked ahead in surprise and saw the words "Echigoya" written on a brightly colored woodblock print.

"Ah, I've heard the maid mention this place. She says it's very lively and sells all sorts of things."

Mingmei clapped her hands, forgetting all about being shy, and immediately became happy.

"After all, it was the prototype of modern department stores," Yu Jian muttered softly.

There were many clothing shops in Edo, but many of them were filled with all kinds of second-hand clothes, including stolen goods and even clothes worn by the dead. Occasionally, prostitutes from Yoshiwara would sell their faded old underwear (usually silk products) to the shops, which would then be dyed black or purple by the merchants and remade into headscarves to be sold to the common people.

Yujian politely declined to work at such shops.

As for Echigoya, it was founded in 1673 and later developed into Tokyo's oldest department store. It was also the first store to introduce ready-made and semi-finished goods to shorten the transaction cycle and to develop an in-store retail model.

In short, it's probably more reliable than other stores.

My knowledge of the historical 'Echigoya' is limited, but this Echigoya in the modern world has been completely transformed into the department store of later times.

Not only do the shops occupy half a street, but the headquarters building is also five stories high, with so many customers that they are shoulder to shoulder. Shops on the higher floors use vertical wires and clips to quickly pass tickets and other items to the central counter to improve checkout efficiency.

There were even steam-powered elevators...

Even Yu Jian was taken aback by the hissing pipes and the elevator cage that moved up and down at regular intervals.

His excellent perception allowed him to hear the roar of engines running underground, even in noisy environments, accompanied by the workers' chants and lines related to their work, such as "stable, fast, and no downtime."

This scene is truly astonishing, even to the dogs.

Wow! That's amazing! X3
The two people and the dog exclaimed in unison, like country bumpkins who had just arrived in the city. Although Yu Jian came from a later era, he had never seen such a 'retro' department store before, which was quite novel.

"Did that dog just talk?" Mingmei suddenly asked.

“Really? You must have misheard.” Yu Jian casually changed the subject: “Its name is Milo, which means ‘merciful warrior’ in Norse.”

【"How did you know?!"】Even Miluoben was shocked.

Even Min-fu didn't know much about it, because the name was given by its first owner, who had sacrificed himself ten years ago during the exorcism of the spiritual disaster.

Yu Jian explained that this obscure knowledge was naturally taught to him by his father, an archaeologist who had meticulously studied Viking history for his thesis. Rumor had it that he'd even gone so far as to try and learn how to operate a Viking longship; with his towering 1.95-meter frame, he might be able to row it all by himself—of course, that was a joke…

Yu Jian answered in his heart, but unfortunately the dog couldn't hear him.

"Is that so? Mitsurugi-kun is amazing, he even understands Western languages." Akemi's attention was successfully diverted, and she stopped worrying about whether the dog had spoken or not.

"I only learned a little bit from my elders at home by chance," Yu Jian said casually.

Suddenly, the boy's eyes narrowed. He didn't seem to have introduced himself, did he? So how did the other person know his name?

"Hello, Milosan. My name is Chizuru, you can also call me Tsuruko."

At that moment, the girl was smiling and greeting the white-furred Samoyed.

"Woof woof." Milo barked softly twice, just like a normal dog.

Thus, thanks to the dog, Mitsurugi finally learned the name of Hayashihara Akemi's identity in the Mortal World.

"Miss Chizuru? May I address you that way?" Mitsuru asked, feeling a little awkward.

"Mmm." Mingmei lowered her head slightly, looking somewhat shy but not refusing.

"It's getting late, let's go inside and take a look."

"it is good."

So the two of them went into this peculiar shop that seemed to be a fusion of modern department stores and ancient architecture.

(End of this chapter)