Demon Slayer: Starting with the Kingdom

In contrast, the datura flower stuck in the corpse grew increasingly dark in color during the process, as if it had been thoroughly watered…

Without a doubt, the swordsman's companion named "Yamada" had had his entire body devoured by Mitsuha in this way.

"Being able to use this little flower to feed me instead of getting myself covered in blood is truly a great help..."

Mitsuha stepped forward to retrieve the datura flower and reintegrated it into her body, muttering to herself. Suddenly, she turned to look at a house not far behind her.

"Ms. Tamayo, how long do you plan to stay there?"

After a brief silence following the words, a woman dressed in a purple kimono slowly emerged from behind the house.

Without a doubt, she was Tamayo, who had been left behind by Muzan to take care of Mitsuha.

That's right, "take care of".

During the initial period after a person awakens after transforming into a ghost, they will lose consciousness due to uncontrollable hunger.

At this point, the evil spirit is incapable of thinking about anything other than eating.

Mitsuba's transformation took a whole day. During this time, Muzan received more information about the Blue Spider Lily, so he decided to leave temporarily.

She then temporarily entrusted the task of looking after Mitsuha and catching food for her to feed her to Tamayo.

Yes, that's how it should be.

But for some reason, when Mitsuha first woke up, she didn't see the food that Tamayo should have prepared for her.

Not only that, but while she was wandering the deserted streets because of hunger, a demon hunter suddenly appeared beside her.

If it weren't for a maid from the Tsugikuni Kingdom passing by at that moment and suddenly calling out to Mitsuha, the demon slayer named "Yamada" might have actually taken advantage of Mitsuha's unconscious state and lack of awareness to kill her.

"Ms. Tamayo, what exactly is going on?"

The figure appeared in front of Tamayo in an instant, blinking as it gazed at her, who was bowing her head in silence. Mitsuha asked with a smile.

"Why didn't you prepare the food that you were supposed to prepare for me?"

Why didn't you show up and stop the demon hunter when he tried to ambush me?

You were right there beside me watching all of this, weren't you?

With her hands behind her back and her body leaning slightly forward, Mitsuha made this playful gesture, her cheek almost touching Tamayo's face.

She tilted her head, staring with her blood-red eyes at Tamayo's dark purple eyes.

"Or is it that everything that just happened was intentionally done by you, Miss Tamayo?"

"You actually really hope those demon hunters will kill me?"

Mitsuha's voice was still cheerful, and her delicate face was still full of a lovely smile, but her tone was completely different—cold.

Once she regained consciousness, she actually realized what had happened.

Tamayo did indeed have the idea of ​​using those demon slayers to kill her.

She was simply curious about Tamayo's motives for doing this.

Could it really be as Muzan once told her, that Tamayo has always harbored resentment towards Muzan, which is why she tried every means to disgust or even deal with him?

He even wanted to get rid of her, someone whom Lord Muzan valued highly?

Faced with Mitsuha's questioning, Tamayo remained silent with her head down, just as she had always been.

Mitsuha wasn't anxious about this. She just smiled gently and then slowly walked behind Tamayo.

"Ms. Tamayo, do you know that there are three types of people in this world?"

The first type of person will never sell their soul, no matter what the circumstances.

The second type of person will only sell their soul at the very last moment.

The third type of person is someone who, from beginning to end, can only sell their own soul.

Which type of person do you think you would be?

Standing behind Tamayo, Mitsuha gently placed her hands on Tamayo's shoulders, then slid forward little by little, and in the process, her body gently pressed against Tamayo's back.

Maintaining this somewhat ambiguous posture, Mitsuha chuckled softly and whispered in Tamayo's ear:

"But no matter what kind of person they are, I have never seen anyone who regrets selling their soul."

Ms. Tamayo, don't you think that this kind of 'regret'... is actually a very despicable act, like that of a buffoon?

Seemingly deeply stung by Mitsuha's words, a change finally appeared on Tamayo's originally calm face.

Tamayo knew perfectly well that Mitsuha was deliberately using those words to mock her.

They mocked her for voluntarily becoming a demon, then regretting it and even wanting to turn against Muzan.

A surge of anger rose within her, but Tamayo did not push Mitsuha away from behind her. Instead, she allowed Mitsuha to continue to lean against her in such an ambiguous manner.

She took a deep breath and said as calmly as possible:

"Mitsuba, becoming a demon is not as wonderful as you imagine."

"Ah, I see... So that's your reason?"

Having gotten the answer she wanted, Mitsuha looked enlightened, then smiled and released Tamayo.

"But Ms. Tamayo, you are not me. How can you be so sure that this choice won't be good for me?"

Chapter 0 [Side Story: The Terrifying Successor Nation (Final)]

(Continuing from the previous side story, and like before, this is also a short inspirational side story that is not counted in the daily word count.)

Miss Mitsuha has passed away.

I woke up the day after the fireworks festival ended to this shocking news.

To be honest, when I first heard this news, I thought it was a rumor.

I saw Miss Mitsuha sneaking out to play at the fireworks festival last night. She was hiding in the basket on the back of the butterfly doctor, and she was wearing an Inari mask on her face. She was so cute.

At midnight, when I returned to the castle tower, I happened to see the other maids helping Miss Mitsuha back to her room to rest.

Miss Mitsuha's condition was normal at the time, with nothing particularly unusual about her, and she didn't seem like she was about to die at all...

But the truth is, it seems that Ms. Mitsuha really has passed away.

The next morning, when we woke up, we were informed of the news by several of our retainers: that he had suddenly deteriorated in the early hours of the morning and passed away...

We were not able to see Miss Mitsuha's body with our own eyes; we only saw the coffin that had been placed in the center of the hall that morning.

Under the supervision of the retainers, Miss Mitsuha's funeral was quickly held, and the young master left behind by the late head of the Yan Sheng family was elected as the new head of the family to succeed the country.

The powerful and wealthy came to mourn, and the people of the city grieved... Everything was moving forward rapidly, as if someone was trying to cover something up.

I also had a vague feeling that something was amiss...

I also overheard some of the maids saying in private that Miss Mitsuha didn't actually die, and there was no body in the coffin. The coffin was empty, and Miss Mitsuha had actually disappeared in the early morning of the fireworks festival...

One of the maids confidently claimed that when she got up to relieve herself in the early hours of the previous night, she vaguely heard Miss Mitsuha's shouts and what sounded like men talking coming from her room.

Because her mind was foggy at the time, she didn't pay much attention to it, thinking she was just hallucinating.

It seems that something must have happened in Ms. Mitsuha's room in the early hours of last night...

Seeing them getting more and more excited as they discussed, I, who had lived in this country for many years and could be considered a senior in some respects, finally couldn't help but interrupt them.

These young, foolish girls still haven't grasped the "idiot philosophy" of being a servant...

In the homes of the powerful and wealthy, all we need to do is fulfill our duties; nothing else is something we servants are allowed to know.

Being too "clever" will only lead to being quietly disappeared. After all these years, I know this all too well.

So I sternly warned them that no matter what they said was true or false, whether it was a hallucination or real, it was not something they should inquire about, and they were not allowed to mention it again from now on.

Just by looking at the subtle dissatisfaction on their faces, I knew they hadn't actually listened to a word I said...

Oh well, let them be. Anyway, I'm leaving Jiguoguo soon.

I don't know when it started, but I gradually felt that something was wrong with the situation within the country.

It was more of an intuition than a feeling; I had a vague sense that something strange had happened within the country.

This feeling was especially strong after Ms. Mitsuha's passing.

But I can't quite put my finger on the specific problem. In short, to avoid getting myself into even bigger trouble, I think it's best to extricate myself from the country as soon as possible.

With the country busy with Miss Mitsuha's funeral these past few days, no one will notice a lowly maid like me. It's the perfect opportunity to slip away.

That's right. At that time, all I was thinking about was getting away from the country as soon as possible to avoid being dragged into even bigger trouble in the future.

But to my utter surprise, just over ten hours later, I saw Ms. Mitsuha alive again.

If that Mitsuha-san could still be considered a normal, living person...

That was on the night of Miss Mitsuha's funeral.

Having successfully resigned from my job as a maid in the country, I had just packed my things and was walking home when I unexpectedly saw a strange woman on the opposite side of the street as I passed a street intersection.

She was wearing the same style of kimono as Ms. Mitsuha, her clothes were somewhat disheveled, her hair was completely white, and she walked unsteadily.

She wandered alone through the deserted and quiet streets, seemingly searching for something...

For some reason, even though I couldn't see her face clearly, I had a feeling that this woman was very likely Ms. Mitsuha.

But isn't Miss Mitsuha already dead?

Why would someone wander the streets in this state? And what's with that head of white hair?

Feeling inexplicably afraid, I didn't go up to check on her immediately. Instead, I hid behind a house and decided to observe her a little longer.

As this woman continued to walk in my direction, I finally got a clear look at her face.

Is she really Miss Mitsuha?!

But why is Mitsuha, who should have been dead, in this state?

what is happening?

Just as I was wondering about this, I suddenly noticed that a man suddenly appeared not far behind Miss Mitsuha.

The man was wearing a strange black uniform and was holding a samurai sword dyed in an odd color.

As soon as he appeared, he stared intently at Miss Mitsuha in front of him. As he stared, he suddenly raised his katana and tiptoed closer to Miss Mitsuha from behind.

Without a doubt, he wanted to kill Miss Mitsuha!

For some reason, Miss Mitsuha was completely unaware of the commotion behind her and continued to walk slowly and unsteadily forward.

Seeing that the strange man gradually approached to within about six feet of Miss Mitsuha, and could cut off her head with a single wave of his hand, I, who had been hiding in the shadows, finally couldn't help but shout out loud.

"Miss Mitsuha! Watch out behind you!"

I know that, as a "clumsy" maid, I should have kept quiet in this situation, pretended not to see anything, and left as soon as possible.

After all, neither Miss Mitsuha, with her full head of white hair, nor the man in black who suddenly appeared seemed quite normal.

Getting involved in these troubles is definitely not a good thing for me.

But at that moment, for some reason, I suddenly thought of Ms. Mitsuha from my daily life.

To be honest, although Miss Mitsuha seems very repressed and has many things on her mind, always wearing a mask when dealing with others, she is actually quite nice to us servants...

Unless we made a really big mistake, Ms. Mitsuha never criticized us.

Normally, they won't deliberately find a bunch of things for us to do just because we're idle, and they won't feel comfortable if they have to keep us all busy.

In terms of daily life, Miss Mitsuha is not picky at all. As long as it is acceptable, she will not nitpick about us.

More importantly, Ms. Mitsuha always gives us time off whenever we have the chance, like last night's fireworks display.

It's kind of embarrassing, really. Last night I saw that the ring toss game looked really exciting and I wanted to go check it out, but I ended up accidentally bumping into Miss Mitsuha, who was sneaking out to play with that Dr. Butterfly...

I felt like I wanted to die at that moment. Thankfully, Ms. Mitsuha didn't cause me any trouble. She even told me to be careful and go home early...

Oops, I've gone off on a tangent.

In short, in my opinion, Miss Mitsuha is truly a very good mistress.

If I were to be a servant again in my next life, I would definitely choose Miss Mitsuha as my master again.

Of course, we can talk about the next life later; there are more important things to do right now.

Seeing that the man in black with the knife was about to behead Miss Mitsuha, I almost didn't hesitate to loudly remind Miss Mitsuha, who was completely unaware of what was happening.