Demon Slayer: Starting with the Kingdom

It was a smiling old man, leaning on a cane, leisurely brewing tea under a large tree in the courtyard.

This person is the owner of this dojo, the centenarian who took in Mitsuha.

Yes, the old man's name is "Centenarian".

This is certainly not the old man's original name. It is said that after he officially crossed the threshold of one hundred years old, the old man has always asked others to call him that.

It always feels like it carries a hint of showing off...

However, it must be said that it is indeed a rare thing for a normal human to live to this age, something to be proud of and something to be envied.

"After all, my principle is to enjoy every day... But you, you centenarian."

Turning to look at the always smiling old man, Mitsuha asked with concern in a teasing tone:

"Squatting outside so early in the morning, enjoying the cool breeze and drinking tea, can easily lead to catching a cold and getting sick, you know?"

"Hehe, it's alright, it's alright. I've lived for over a hundred years, I've already made my money back in this lifetime..."

"Sister Sanye! Stop chatting with that centenarian! Hurry up and teach us swordsmanship!"

"That's it!"

"Alright, alright, you little rascal, you really know how to rush me... I'll go in first, old man, take care of yourself."

Chapter 64 This young man lived a truly upright life (Bonus Chapter)

With a wave of her hand, she walked into the dojo, and just like that, Mitsuha's new day began.

Every day before dawn, I would get up early and go out to help the neighbors on my way to the dojo. Then I would go to the dojo to teach the little ones swordsmanship until evening, and finally go home when it got dark.

This process is repeated day after day.

If you were to ask Mitsuha if she ever gets bored with this kind of life, her answer would be—

At least not yet.

She loved the town because everyone was so welcoming and kind. They all had a special skill.

Of course, more importantly, if Mitsuha ever gets tired of living here, she can leave at any time.

This was a promise she made to the centenarian.

During her stay in the town, although she had to come every day to help the centenarian with his temple, the centenarian would not stop her when she really wanted to leave.

She can leave whenever she wants.

"Mitsuba! Something's happened on the next street! You need to go check it out right away!"

It was noon, and Mitsuha had just finished teaching in the morning and was about to cook some food for the children when she saw the uncle who had asked her to help with the ladder and repair the roof during the day rushing in from outside the dojo.

"Uncle Kudo? What's wrong? What happened on the next street?"

"There's a child...a child is about to be beaten to death! Mitsuha, you need to go help!"

"What? I'll go right away!"

Upon hearing this, Mitsuha did not hesitate and immediately went out to see what was happening.

But after running two steps, she seemed to suddenly remember something, slapped her forehead, and quickly turned around to pick up the black umbrella that was placed in the corner.

"Sister Sanye! Bamboo sword!"

The two children behind her quickly handed her a bamboo knife.

"Thanks. You all stay put in the dojo and don't wander off, understand?"

"Okay! But when you come back, you have to tell us what happened!"

"That little rascal really loves to join in the fun..."

With a helpless sigh, Mitsuha immediately opened her umbrella and ran out of the dojo with Uncle Kudo.

She knew perfectly well why this older man had come to find her.

As a well-known female swordsmanship master in town, Mitsuha's skills are widely recognized by the townspeople.

In addition, given her consistently kind nature, whenever there were conflicts in town that were inconvenient to resolve through the magistrate's office, the townspeople would usually come to her for justice.

Mitsuha herself was happy to get involved in these things, since she was born to love watching a good show.

The saying that circulates in the town, "If you encounter trouble, hurry to Master Mitsuha, or Master Mitsuha will come looking for you," originated from this...

This time is no exception.

To Mitsuha's surprise, when she rushed to the next street, she found that the conflict had already been stopped in advance.

"I heard a child was about to be killed, so I rushed over to save him... But I never expected that seven adults would be taken down by a child who was unarmed?"

On the street, seven adults lay sprawled on the ground, groaning in pain.

Having just delivered a package, Qingzang happened to be passing by and was standing to the side, looking at the bruised and swollen boy in the crowd with his usual smiling face.

He was a pretty little boy with short black hair, thin eyebrows, blue eyes, and pink eyelashes. He looked to be no more than fourteen or fifteen years old.

Despite his young age, he has three dark blue tattoos on each of his arms, representing the crime of pickpocketing.

This indicates that the child was not only a habitual thief with a long history of theft, but had also been caught by the authorities more than once.

"What an admirable child!"

Unaware of Mitsuha's arrival behind him, Keizo looked at the boy in front of him and loudly praised him:

"To be able to defeat these adults without weapons shows that you have quite a talent!"

"Little one! I'm the master of the Su Liu Dojo in town! How about it? Interested in becoming my disciple?"

"Shut up, you old geezer! Go to hell!"

However, the boy was not grateful for Keizo's enthusiastic invitation. He practically cursed as he rushed over and threw a punch at Keizo.

"Hahaha! Young man, don't be so angry! Listen to my advice! It's not too late to turn back and start anew!"

Qingzang simply laughed off the boy's rude attitude, then quickly got into a fighting stance and unleashed several heavy punches that landed squarely on the boy's face as he rushed towards him, knocking him unconscious on the spot.

The movements were fluid, clean, and decisive.

Only then did Mitsuha, who had been watching from the sidelines, finally speak up and disperse the townspeople who had gathered around.

"Alright everyone~ You can all disperse now~ Uncle Kudo, could you please inform the magistrate's office about the situation here and ask them to send some constables over as soon as possible? Please..."

As Mitsuha watched the uncle leave, she turned around and saw Keizo carrying the unconscious boy on his back.

"Ah ha ha……"

The two looked at each other, and Keizo smiled somewhat embarrassedly.

"If I had known Miss Mitsuha was coming, I shouldn't have shown off like this..."

"Mr. Keizo is joking. There's nothing to be proud of about helping out..."

As she spoke, Mitsuha first activated her Transparent World to glance at the few people still lying on the ground groaning. After confirming that they had only suffered minor injuries, she then turned her gaze to the unconscious boy behind Keizo.

"His name is Komaji. I heard some stories about this child when I was helping out at the Yorozuya. Would you like to hear them, Miss Mitsuha?"

Seemingly noticing the curiosity in Mitsuha's eyes, Keizo took the initiative to ask.

"I don't mind."

And so, on the way back, Keizo slowly began to tell the story of the boy named Komaji.

According to him, Komaji did not originally live in this town. He was born in Edo Castle in the Kanto region, and was exiled here by the magistrate after committing multiple crimes there.

Komaji's mother abandoned him when he was very young, leaving him with only his seriously ill father to depend on.

Therefore, from a very young age, Komaji developed the bad habit of pickpocketing and stole things from people everywhere.

But he did it not for himself, but for his father.

The medicine his father needed to treat his illness was very expensive; it was money he couldn't possibly save by working a regular job.

Unwilling to watch his father die of illness, Komaji had no choice but to steal to earn money to buy medicine.

But as a child, he was bound to get caught by the police someday.

Each time he was caught, he would be sent to the magistrate's office to be tortured and tattooed, then he would go steal again, only to be caught again, tortured again, tattooed again, and then go steal again...

This cycle repeated itself again and again until this morning, when Komaji, who had once again been arrested and tortured at the magistrate's office, returned home and learned that his father, upon hearing that he had been arrested and taken to the magistrate's office again, had finally chosen to hang himself...

Komaji's father felt that he had dragged his son down, and in order to prevent his son from doing such a despicable thing again.

In order to prevent him from being captured and tortured by the magistrate, he chose to end his life in this way...

Upon returning home and witnessing this scene, Komaji, overwhelmed with grief and despair, finally lost his mind and rushed into the street, launching indiscriminate attacks on the glamorous and wealthy people.

Until Keizo, who happened to be nearby, arrived and stopped them...

"That's it..."

On the way back, after telling all the stories he knew about Komaji, Keizo's honest face once again showed an embarrassed smile.

He glanced at Mitsuha, who was standing beside him holding an umbrella and had been silent for a long time with her head down, and said with a smile:

"Hahaha! Miss Mitsuha must also think this child is particularly annoying, right? He's violent and likes to steal things, he must be a bad kid..."

"No, quite the opposite."

However, Mitsuha shook her head.

She turned to look at Komaji, who was still unconscious on Keizo's back, and said in an extremely serious tone:

"I think this child lives a very upright and honorable life."

He simply didn't have a good family to grow up in, nor did he have good parents to guide him; that's all.

Mitsuha was telling the truth.

As a demon, she had long lost the moral compass she possessed during her human years.

In her view, the fact that this child could go to such lengths for his father, and could fight so hard to resist the tragic fate that befell him, already made him a truly great man.

Upon hearing this, Keizo was stunned, seemingly not expecting Mitsuha to say such a thing.

After a long while, he finally realized what was happening and laughed again:

"Miss Mitsuha sometimes says some really shocking things..."

"I'm just saying whatever comes to mind."

"But let me make this clear first, I'm not handing this child over to you, Miss Mitsuha, okay?"

Suddenly changing the subject, Qingzang said seriously with a straight face:

"Our friendship is one thing, but I think this child has real talent. My Su Liu Dojo doesn't even have a single disciple yet, so I absolutely won't let him go!"

"Yes Yes Yes……"

Mitsuha was quite helpless at Keizo's behavior, which resembled protecting a chick. She just smiled and shook her head.

"Then I'll trouble Mr. Qingzang to take your good disciple back to your dojo as soon as possible. I'll stop by the clinic on the way and bring you some medicine. Is that alright?"

"Haha! Thank you very much, Miss Mitsuha! I'll cover the cost of the medicine!"

"Given how poor you are, Mr. Keizō, that you're practically selling your dojo, let's just forget about it. I'll keep a note of it for you, and you can pay me back when you have more disciples in the future..."

With a wave of her hand, Mitsuha turned and walked straight toward the town's clinic.

There are two clinics in this small town, located in the east and west of the town respectively.

Sanye wasn't very familiar with the clinic in the east of the town, and rarely went there.

She often passed by the clinic in the west of the town because it was close by, and she was fairly familiar with the female doctor there.

Oh, by the way, the name of this clinic in Zhenxi is "Butterfly Clinic".

Chapter 65: Records of Blue Spider Lily Cultivation

"Little butterfly".

"Miss Mitsuha?"

Inside the Butterfly Clinic, the young female doctor who had been sitting behind the counter, looking down at the medical book in her hand, immediately looked up upon hearing the sound.

Upon seeing Mitsuha walking towards the clinic with an umbrella, she immediately put away her medical books and hurried out to welcome her in.