Demon Slayer: Starting with the Kingdom

"Thank you both for your help and companionship these past few days. I have seriously considered more than once whether I should introduce you to the lord."

But now that I think about it carefully, it still seems a bit inappropriate...

Not only because the Demon Slayer Corps has now been destroyed, but more importantly, the enemy's strength has exceeded my expectations. I am not absolutely certain that I can protect your safety during the battle.

I feel truly guilty for continuing to burden you both with such risks.

So, let's part ways here...

With his eyes lowered, Yoriichi forced a smile at the two people in front of him as he spoke.

"I will handle what follows, whether it's Muzan, Mitsuha, or my brother, on my own, in my own way. I'm sorry..."

"Mr. Yoriichi..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Yoriichi didn't give the two a chance to stop him. He leaped out of the courtyard and disappeared into the bamboo forest in a few steps.

As if she had expected this outcome, Tamayo said nothing. She simply stood there watching Yoriichi leave before turning her gaze to the butterfly beside her.

"So, Dr. Butterfly, what are you planning to do now?"

Upon hearing this, the butterfly lowered its head in deep thought.

To be honest, even now, she still feels a vague sense of unreality about everything that has happened in the past few days.

Everything felt like a dream.

First, they encountered Yoriichi, the older brother who was so powerful that he seemed inhuman, someone they had only ever heard about from Mitsuha.

They encountered Tamayo, a demon whose appearance was indistinguishable from a human's, but who did not need to eat or drink and could never be exposed to direct sunlight.

I also heard from these two that Mitsuha, who was supposed to be dead, has now also turned into a demon...

Demon hunters, evil spirits, demon kings, blood demon magic...

All of this was strongly impacting the butterfly's understanding.

Is this world really so colorful?

"I plan to find a quiet place first, as I mentioned before, and then conduct my research. Would you like to come along?"

Amidst the butterfly's silence, Tamayo took the initiative to extend an invitation.

Tamayo and Yoriichi have had many discussions in the past few days about how to kill Muzan in the future.

Unlike Yoriichi, who was already very powerful, Tamayo never agreed to confront Muzan head-on.

In her opinion, this was simply impractical.

If she had ever considered relying on the power of the Demon Slayers to defeat Muzan...

After witnessing Mitsuha Tsugikuni's Blood Demon Art firsthand, Tamayo completely abandoned the idea.

Humanity could never defeat such an adversary.

To completely kill Muzan, one must first defeat Mitsuha Tsugikuni, and to defeat Mitsuha Tsugikuni, one can only rely on... the power of demons.

Yes, that was the only solution Tamayo could think of.

Mitsuha Tsugikuni is an opponent that only demons can defeat.

After all, although her Blood Demon Arts were incredibly powerful, they were only effective against humans and had no effect on evil spirits.

As long as she is a demon, she cannot see cause and effect, and cannot predict or control the death of others.

Therefore, her fellow human beings are her greatest nemesis.

Of course, Tamayo didn't believe she could catch up with Mitsuha, who was exceptionally talented at being a demon, in terms of raw power.

That's impossible; she knows her own limitations perfectly well.

The only means she could use was to make the most of her only advantage over Mitsuha—her medical skills.

That's right, Tamayo plans to do research.

Just like that mysterious doctor from five hundred years ago, who was able to transform Muzan from a human into a demon through the combination of medicines.

Tamayo felt that she might be able to develop a drug that could turn demons back into humans.

If she can research this drug and find a way to get Muzan or Mitsuha Tsugikuni to take it, then no matter how powerful or terrifying their Blood Demon Arts are, they will eventually have to obediently turn back into ordinary humans!

Yes, this is the only way Tamayo can think of that could possibly defeat and kill Muzan and Mitsuha.

In order to achieve this goal as soon as possible, she felt that she might need the assistance of Butterfly, who also had extraordinary medical skills.

Although Butterfly had clearly shown a preference for Mitsuba, she still wanted to try.

After all, having another smart brain to help her with the research is always better than her doing it all by herself...

"Ms. Tamayo."

However, when Tamayo extended an invitation, Butterfly did not immediately give an answer.

After a long silence, she turned to look at Tamayo and suddenly asked:

"I'd like to confirm once again, is the information you mentioned before about the blue spider lily true?"

"I'm not entirely sure."

Having vaguely guessed the reason for her question, Tamayo still answered seriously:

"After all, all the information I had about the Blue Spider Lily came from Muzan."

The claims that obtaining the Blue Spider Lily would allow the demon to fully evolve and no longer fear sunlight are all his own assertions, and I have no way of verifying their truthfulness...

But I can say for sure that Muzan has indeed been searching for this flower for the past few centuries.

"Is that so...? That's enough."

A smile suddenly appeared on her face. Butterfly tightened her grip on the medicine basket on her back, looked at Zhushi, and earnestly expressed her refusal.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Tamayo, I still do not wish to participate in your research.”

I have my own plans. I've decided to go and find the blue spider lily myself, or perhaps, cultivate it by hand.

"Dr. Butterfly, you..."

"Furthermore, I also really want to go and find Mitsuha... Thank you for sharing with Mr. Yoriichi these past few days. I'm very sorry, but we must part ways here..."

As soon as she finished speaking, Butterfly turned and left without waiting for Tamayo to stop her.

And so, these three people, who had come together by chance, seemed to each make different choices when faced with the problem of evil spirits...

Chapter 56 The Twenty-Seventh Year of Keicho

Some time after leaving the base, Yoriichi, who thought the Demon Slayer Corps had been completely wiped out, unexpectedly encountered the Flame Hashira with the young master.

At that time, the Flame Pillar was traveling around gathering the Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen who were not at their base that night, attempting to reunite these remaining demon hunters and rebuild the Demon Slayer Corps.

After meeting Yoriichi, the Flame Pillar finally learned what had happened at the camp that night after he left.

Regarding Mitsuha and Mikatsu's raid on the Demon Slayer Corps' base and the killing of Ubuyashiki, if it were any of the other Pillars present, they might have angrily turned their wrath on Yoriichi, perhaps even forcing him to commit seppuku as an apology...

But the Flame Pillar is not that kind of person.

He was happy for Yoriichi's return to the team, but also saddened that Yoriichi had to suffer such a blow.

However, although the Flame Pillar wanted Yoriichi to stay in the new Demon Slayer Corps and train the new young swordsmen, Yoriichi ultimately refused.

Because his time is running out.

He was about to turn twenty-five.

Based on past experience, all the striped swordsmen die at the age of twenty-five, without exception.

Considering his limited lifespan, Yoriichi wanted to make the most of his remaining time by traveling around the country and trying to see if he could encounter Muzan again and kill him.

From that day on, neither the Flame Pillar, the young master, nor the Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen ever encountered Yoriichi again…

Tamayo, with her exceptional drive, quickly found a secluded spot after leaving the Demon Slayer Corps' base and began to conduct various research projects according to her pre-arranged plan.

However, she is slightly different in that she is not only researching drugs to turn ghosts back into humans, but also constantly modifying her own body.

She tried everything to reduce her body's dependence on human flesh and blood, attempting to rid herself of the desire that constantly wanted to devour humans.

For many years to come, this was both to avoid the henchmen that Muzan might send to hunt him down and to prevent the people around him from noticing anything unusual.

Tamayo changes her identity and address every so often.

And all traces of her personal life vanished completely into the vast sea of ​​human society with each of these changes...

As for the butterfly, just as she said, she devoted herself to finding the blue spider lily.

During this process, she also tried to find Mitsuha's whereabouts.

But whether it was bad luck or Mitsuha deliberately avoiding her, Butterfly never saw Mitsuha again, not even once, after the night they parted at the fireworks festival.

It's not just Mitsuba.

Yoriichi, Tamayo, the Demon Slayer, and even other demons... Butterfly never encountered them again.

The few days she briefly met Yoriichi and Tamayo felt like a short dream. After waking up, she returned to her ordinary, mundane world.

Everything came true, just like the wishes they made for each other at the fireworks festival.

The butterfly hopes that Mitsuha will be happy in the last moments of her life, while Mitsuha hopes that the butterfly will be safe and sound from now on.

Therefore, Mitsuha will no longer encounter anything that makes her unhappy, and Butterfly will no longer face any danger that could threaten her safety...

Time marches on relentlessly.

In the 27th year of Keicho, the Warring States period, which lasted for nearly a century, finally came to its last battle.

Decades ago, with the rise of Oda Nobunaga, the rise of Toyotomi Hideyoshi after the Honnoji Incident, and the eventual triumph of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who, despite his age, overthrew the Toyotomi regime with the two Sieges of Osaka, the Tokugawa clan finally achieved its ultimate victory.

In May of the 27th year of Keicho, with the conclusion of the Siege of Osaka, Toyotomi Hideyori and his mother, whose defeat was inevitable, committed seppuku in the burning Osaka Castle.

How could Mitsuha possibly miss such a great opportunity to witness the magnificent burning of this majestic city?

On the night Osaka Castle burned, Mitsuha, who hadn't appeared before the Demon Slayer Corps for decades, made a special trip from afar to come over.

What Mitsuha didn't expect was that she, who originally only planned to come to witness history and appreciate this rare and magnificent landscape, would unexpectedly meet someone she never expected.

"Oh my~ Yoriichi-nii-san?"

As the city fell, chaos reigned on the streets as night approached, with fires raging everywhere. Mitsuha, walking among the fleeing crowds, suddenly noticed a figure at a street corner not far away.

That was an old man.

An old man wearing a fiery red haori and with a Nichirin sword at his waist.

An elderly man is bending down to carefully help a mother and daughter who have been knocked to the ground by the panicked crowd.

Although decades had passed, Mitsuha recognized the old man the moment she saw him.

The old man's name was Yoriichi Tsugikuni. He was the strongest demon slayer who had disappeared for decades. He was the son of God and also... her brother.

Seemingly hearing Mitsuha's call, Yoriichi, who had helped the mother and daughter to their feet, paused for a moment before turning to look at them.

The brother and sister looked at each other across the dispersing crowd.

What are Mitsuha's feelings when she sees her brother again after decades?

Do you feel nostalgic? Do you feel reluctant to let go? Do you feel fear?

Or perhaps, it's just a tiny bit of emotion stemming from the reunion of siblings?

Unfortunately, none of these clover leaves were available.

At this moment, all she felt was a sigh of regret.

"I never expected to see you here... No, perhaps I should say I never expected you to have lived to this age?"

For years I've believed that you had quietly passed away when you were only twenty-five years old..."

Mitsuha couldn't help but admire the wrinkles on Yoriichi's aged face.

Yoriichi's older brother survived.

He actually survived?

He overcame the death hurdle of twenty-five, a hurdle that no other marked swordsman could overcome!

"You truly are the Son of God."

Faced with Mitsuha's praise and looking at his younger sister's youthful appearance, which was almost identical to his memory, Yoriichi remained silent.