Shota is surrounded by monsters!

At that time, my own demonic energy actively devoured the approaching aura. Was that feeling fear?

"The fear of the Taotie. You should know that without me saying it. The simpler the fear, the more powerful it is." The slippery old man recalled the tales of monsters he had heard and said, "Although it's about eating, don't limit yourself to just the physical act of eating. Your earliest ancestor, you should know what he ate in the end, right?"

"No... I just know that I ate some food and then I was so full I died."

Shota shook his head; his memories of these things were somewhat hazy.

"..." Unexpectedly, he, an outsider, had to reveal the secrets of other people's families. The slippery old man shook his head helplessly. This matter was no longer a secret. Any monster with a little ability knew the legends of those monsters who created the world.

"Your ancestor ultimately devoured the knowledge of several races of monsters. With just one bite, it completely devoured several races of monsters. No one remembers what those destroyed races were. They vanished completely from the documents, from people's mouths, from people's understanding, without even a trace of their existence. People only know that it ate something, but they can never recall what it ate."

Chapter Thirty-Six. Playing

Can you eat those things?

Hearing the old man's words, Shota fell into deep thought. He knew his ancestor was very strong; a monster that could leave its mark in such a chaotic era could not be an ordinary being. But he never imagined that his ancestor was strong enough to erase such a thing.

It's true that each generation is worse than the last. I thought my dad was already ridiculously strong, but it turns out that our ancestors were far inferior in strength.

"You don't need to underestimate yourself."

Seeing the longing mixed with a hint of sadness on Shota's face, Nurarihyon said, "There are many reasons why the overall strength of yokai has declined, but you don't need to know those things yet. You only need to know that bloodline issues don't matter much. Hybrids aren't necessarily worse than purebloods."

"I see."

Shota nodded, feeling honored to receive guidance from an elder.

Although he knew that he would eventually have to pay a price.

"However, the most important thing is that you must not be afraid of your own power, and you must not deny yourself as a monster."

The madman abruptly changed the subject, looking at Shota with a sharp gaze and saying, "In that case, your power will never be fully unleashed."

"It's so embarrassing to be made to look so bad by those people from the countermeasures office."

The slippery ghost said in a critical tone, "From today onwards, come to this old man's place to train every night. Such talent is being completely wasted; this old man simply can't stand by and watch!"

In the eyes of the Nurarihyon, regardless of whether Taotie was in its infancy or whatever, it was still incredibly embarrassing that it was only managed to be so thoroughly humiliated by a single branch—in other words, by four skilled exorcists—with the strongest exorcist barely even lifting a finger. For a powerful demon of such immense strength, its overall power was simply too weak.

Even a monster with extensive combat experience but not yet reaching the full A-rank level could probably easily crush him, despite his abundant demonic energy, if he didn't know how to use it.

Just like when facing Kubinashi, the old rascal thought that Shota would definitely lose. He wouldn't even have a chance to open his mouth and devour his opponent.

"Heh, hehe."

Shota chuckled awkwardly. He knew his situation, of course. Perhaps in the past he would have been content just to bully the little monsters every day, but now…

At the very least, Remi's safety must be guaranteed.

"Gurgle—"

I had just made up my mind when I got hungry.

"..."

The sly old man glanced at Shota and said, "Is there anything planned for tonight?"

"Have."

Shota nodded; he was going to see a movie with Rea and Mashiro later.

"Let's go for a walk outside first."

"Go, where to?"

"Let's go get something to eat!"

The old man glared at Shota, told him to say hello to Rea and Mashiro, and then led him outside.

An hour later, Shota returned with a beaming smile to collect Mashiro and Rea, while the old man with the sly smile shook his head as he watched him leave...

"We still underestimated his... appetite."

"General."

A small tengu appeared behind him, flapping its wings, and asked, "Why keep such a ferocious beast around? If it goes berserk, it might even eat itself. Let alone the little monsters of the Nura Clan..."

"Crow Tengu, some things can't be viewed only from the negative side."

The slippery old man chuckled indifferently and said, "Is it really true that so-called bestiality is uncontrollable?"

"But……"

"No need for further explanation. I have my own judgment. Alright, if any humans come to cause trouble later, remember to kick them all out."

"Hey, Shota, so there are so many monsters in this world."

Having just visited the Nura Clan, Rea encountered many interesting yokai, such as those tiny, white figures and that natto-scented little monk. Regardless of the yokai, their small size didn't make them scary; instead, they gave off a rather cute vibe. That's probably what they mean by "mini is cute."

"Yes, the number of monsters is quite considerable. Even I can't figure out all the different kinds of monsters."

Shota touched his bulging wallet, which had been filled with tips. Although the Supreme Commander of Nura didn't manage money, it didn't mean there weren't some yokai who knew how to do business. So, at least a large number of yokai could be guaranteed a comfortable life. As for Shota, as long as he didn't spend extravagantly, he could basically live comfortably with Mashiro and Rea.

As for moving into the main family home... Shota doesn't have that plan for the time being. Too many people would be troublesome, and it wouldn't be good if he, Rea, and Mashiro were seen doing certain things and misunderstood.

"Hungry."

"Hey, didn't we just drink quite a bit of tea?"

Mashiro tugged at Shota's sleeve, stopped in her tracks, and looked at her with longing eyes, saying, "I'm hungry from waiting so long..."

Shota looked around and, sure enough, found that the three of them had stopped right in front of a bubble tea shop.

"Ah, Mashiro-chan is really greedy."

Seeing Mashiro acting like a child, Rea smiled and asked, "What would you like to drink?"

"Watermelon milk tea..."

Even if she couldn't read the words, Mashiro knew exactly what the watermelon drawn on the "Special Recommendation" sign meant.

"This milk tea is really weird..." Shota muttered, then asked Rea, "Do you want some?"

"Uh... I guess I'll pass... as for water..."

“It will evaporate naturally anyway.” Shota said, looking at Rea’s slightly dry lips. “Being too dehydrated is bad for your health.”

"That's true..."

Rei nodded. Now that she was a vampire and a zombie, she not only had to learn to take care of her appearance, but also had to start learning to take care of her internal health.

"Then watermelon milk tea will do."

"Ah."

After buying two extra-large cups of milk tea, Shota and his two friends headed towards the movie theater.

"Hey, is this the movie theater?"

Rei looked at the men and women coming and going at the entrance and said with some emotion, "I've never seen so many people except when the school holds morning assemblies."

"Gurgle."

Mashiro took a big gulp of milk tea and hid behind Shota. She still felt a little uncomfortable with too many people around.

After glancing at the movie schedule, Shota asked Rea, "Romance, action, thriller, animation, zombie film, vampire film, which one do you want to see?"

"Watch romance, action, mystery, vampire animation together!"

"An adult animated film with vampire and suspense elements? It's even more extreme than I expected!" Shota scratched the back of his head and said, "I can only pick one."

"Hey, can't we watch multiple movies at the same time in one movie theater?"

"It's not your private cinema."

"Oh, oh, is that so?"

Rei hesitated for a moment, then said, "Then let's watch a vampire movie!"

Since it wasn't the weekend or a holiday, the movie theater wasn't exactly empty, but it wasn't crowded either. Shota, Mashiro, and Rea sat together in the center of the theater. Except for Shota, who was holding a bag of popcorn, the other two were just holding a drink.

"Is this popcorn?"

Rea looked at the popcorn in Shota's hand with a curious expression. At home, her father usually wouldn't let her touch this kind of junk food—although popcorn isn't exactly junk food. So this was the first time she had ever seen popcorn. Although she really wanted to try it, she felt that her body didn't seem to have the ability to digest it, and if she ate it, it would stay in her stomach forever.

"You can try some if you want." Shota held a piece of popcorn to Rea's lips and said, "It's just a little bit, it shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Is it really possible?

"It will definitely break down eventually. Just chew it up."

"Won't it just leak out?" Rei asked somewhat embarrassedly, "After all, my body is already in a complete mess."

"A little bit is fine. Really, even if it gets dirty, it can be washed clean."

Shota chuckled as he stuffed popcorn into Rea's mouth. While some things were difficult to talk about, when it came to truly cleaning out the impurities inside... well, there were ways. And with Mashiro's help, it would be exceptionally easy.

After a moment of hesitation, Rea accepted Shota's offer and ate it.

"It's very sweet."

Rei squinted at the sweetness, and after a while, she said, "Can I have another one?"

"Sure."

Shota handed over the popcorn, but Mashiro, sitting between the two, intercepted it halfway.

"Awoo!"

For some reason, Mashiro stubbornly swallowed a large mouthful of popcorn.

"Spit it out quickly." Shota hurriedly patted Mashiro's back. With Mashiro's corrosiveness, it was impossible for her to digest all the popcorn. When she got home, she would definitely leak out a large amount of thick popcorn and bodily fluid mixture when she took off her socks. Shota really didn't want to see that stuff again—it wasn't that it smelled bad, but rather it had a fruity aroma that made people's mouths water.

But he can't actually eat it, can he? Shota would rather lick Mashiro than eat those things!

"whee."

Rea looked at Mashiro, who was silently resisting Shota, and at Shota, who was trying to coerce her by sticking out his fingers to pry the popcorn out of Mashiro's mouth, and couldn't help but laugh.

But soon the lights dimmed, and the movie officially began. Shota could no longer mess around with Mashiro.

Movie playing in progress—

Rei is eating.

The movie ended.

"Yes, I'm sorry." After the screening, Rea said apologetically, "When I saw the male and female leads drinking blood in the movie, I couldn't help myself..."