Demon Slayer: Starting with the Kingdom

Hearing Mitsuha's deliberately sarcastic words, the centenarian simply smiled.

He pulled his hand out of Mitsuha's grasp, and then, with his last ounce of strength, slowly raised his hand and placed his index fingers on either side of his cheek.

With this somewhat strange gesture, the centenarian smiled weakly at the puzzled Mitsuha and uttered those words that transcended a long period of time.

"Mizuha-nee...you have to...be happy..."

My brain was buzzing, and my vision blurred instantly.

With this action of the centenarian, time seemed to begin to flow backward at an alarming rate!

In an instant, Mitsuha seemed to have returned to the time when she was young and served as the head of the Tsuke family.

She returned to the small town that had imprisoned her for her entire life, back to the day she first encountered the butterfly.

She returned to that secluded alleyway from that morning, back to the group of children she had squatted on the ground playing happily with...

Then she saw it.

She saw the shy little boy, pointing to his cheeks with both fingers, mustering his courage to say a blessing to her as she left.

[Mizuha-nee! Be happy!]

"This is impossible……"

In my mind, the image of the centenarian and the shy child from my memories gradually merged.

"How is this possible... It's you? You were that little guy back then?"

"This is impossible... How could you possibly have lived this long?"

Mitsuha's pupils contracted sharply, and she instinctively stood up, staring incredulously at the centenarian in front of her.

She activated her Blood Demon Art almost instantly, gaining insight into all the causes and effects of the centenarian's past.

[Early in the morning, my friends and I played a game of "promotion" in an alley with a mysterious woman dressed in gorgeous clothes who called herself "Mitsuba," and we lost miserably.]

[Mitsuha was picked up and taken away. Mustering up the courage, I told her to cheer herself up, and Mitsuha seemed to cry because of that.]

So, it turns out that Mitsuha is the daimyo who rules our town...

[I told my friends I wanted to see Mitsuha again, but they laughed at me mercilessly. I was so upset that I cried...]

After the fireworks festival, Mitsuha passed away from illness. Heartbroken, she moved away from the town with her parents...

I don't want to get married...

[Parents passed away...]

Using the money his parents had earned from their past business dealings, they opened a Taoist temple in an ordinary little town, naming it the Centenarian Temple...

[The century-old dojo can't compete with another sword dojo in town, and it doesn't attract many disciples, but because it's rich, it doesn't care...]

Time flies, and I've lived to be over a hundred. To celebrate my longevity, I took a trip for a while.

Late that night, I happened to encounter a young girl sitting on a rock by the roadside, lost in thought, unsure of where to go.

[This little girl is so strange. She looks exactly like the Mitsuha I remember. When I heard her also call herself Mitsuha, I almost thought I had traveled back in time. Luckily, she didn't notice anything unusual about me...]

I took her in and asked her to be a swordsmanship instructor at the Centennial Dojo, and she agreed.

I'm sure now, she must be the Mitsuha-nee I met when I was little...

Looking at these lines of cause and effect, tears welled up uncontrollably in Mitsuha's incredulous eyes.

"How is this possible... You actually... have lived until now?"

"Yes...it's incredible, isn't it? It seems I'm lucky to be...a very long-lived person..."

Slowly lowering his hand, the centenarian gazed calmly at Mitsuha before him and smiled:

"I waited a hundred years, just to see you again, to say one more word to you, to see you smile again..."

Mitsuha-nee... You already fulfilled my wish for me, didn't you...?

"I'm so sorry, I didn't recognize you for the past five years. I'm so sorry..."

"There's no need to say sorry... I'm already very content to see you so happy every day these past five years..."

I have to go now... From now on, Mitsuha-nee, you'll be all alone... but you must live happily..."

As his breath grew weaker, the centenarian looked at Mitsuha, who was holding his hand again and crying and apologizing, and felt the warmth of her hand. With a smile, he slowly closed his eyes.

With the passing of the centenarian, Mitsuha also lost her last attachment in the town.

Perhaps it's finally time for her to leave this small town.

The transfer of ownership of the dojo took some time. On the day of her departure, Mitsuha wanted to see Violet Butterfly one last time, but found that the Butterfly Clinic was deserted.

She had already left without even telling Mitsuha where she was going.

Although the datura flower left on the violet could be used to track her location, Mitsuba did not do so.

She respects her friend's choice.

This little butterfly has an exceptionally stubborn and unique personality.

She would rather not have something in the first place than have it if she couldn't have it completely.

If she couldn't keep Mitsuha by her side forever, she would rather maintain their ordinary friendship forever.

Should one keep someone by their side forever?

Mitsuha shook her head.

Yes, the little butterfly is right, she really can't do that.

She might be able to stay with someone for a few years, or even a decade or more, but she cannot stay with someone for decades, or even hundreds or thousands of years.

Mitsuha is well aware of her own personality; she is someone who gets bored easily. She cannot stay in one place for long, nor can she spend a long time with the same person.

From the perspective of human emotions, she should be very "philanthropic", or rather... very "fickle".

But that little butterfly, on the contrary, is a very devoted person...

It was precisely because she understood all this that the butterfly violet chose to let go and leave, even when she clearly had the opportunity...

Okay, don't be sad or upset.

The old journey has ended. Gather your strength, Mitsuha, it's time to prepare for a new one.

Only in this way can you live up to the expectations of your friends who care about you...

"Sister Sanye, are you leaving?"

Taking a deep breath, just as Mitsuha closed the gates of the Hundred-Year-Old Dojo and turned to leave, a boy suddenly poked his head out from behind the wall not far away.

The boy had white oak hair, a handsome face, and was quite cute.

Mitsuha had an impression of this child, and a very strong one at that.

After all, if someone were to propose to you every day when they had nothing better to do, you would definitely have a deep impression of them.

"Well, I'm leaving."

Seeing the white-haired boy with red eyes who seemed to want to say something, Mitsuha, who was holding an umbrella, simply squatted down and patted his head with a smile.

"From now on, live well, grow up happily, find someone you truly love to marry, and live a joyful and happy life. Do you understand?"

And then... if there's nothing wrong, don't just casually propose to girls. After all, not everyone in this world has a temper as good as yours, Mitsuha, understand?

"But Mitsuha-nee, I..."

"Hey! Stop! I'm about to leave, little guy, you can't keep bothering me even at a time like this, can you?"

After wiping away the boy's tears, Mitsuha smiled, stood up, waved, and walked away.

"Alright, that's all. Hope we meet again someday."

[This section officially concludes, but Akaza and Koyuki's story is not yet finished. Akaza will have a second part of her story after the main plot begins.]

[Since Mitsuha is very strong in both her Blood Demon Art and her own initiative, readers who are looking for angst may be disappointed, because Mitsuha's demonic life can never be tragic, meow~]

[Starting from the following section, the two strongest troublemakers in this book will officially team up and begin their legendary mischievous life of causing trouble everywhere~]

[Speaking of which, I originally planned to write a short side story about Violet's mother, but I just couldn't write anymore, meow~]

[Also, I suggest you check out the side quest in the next chapter, as it hides an important detail~]

Chapter 0 [Side Quest: Eternal Bliss]

A certain day of a certain year and a certain month

I failed to propose to Sister Sanye today either.

I've lost count of how many times I've failed. Ever since my parents sent me to the Hundred-Year Dojo, I've proposed to Sister Sanye every day, only to be rejected without hesitation.

Everyone says that water dripping on stone can wear it away, and that anything is possible with human effort, so why have I never succeeded?

Is it really because I'm still young?

Yes, that must be it.

After all, every time Sister Sanye rejects me, she calls me "little devil".

This shows that Mitsuha never really took my proposal seriously, even though I was clearly serious...

Damn it, I wish I were a little older...

Okay, that's all for today's diary entry. Time to sleep. I'll continue proposing to Sister Sanye tomorrow.

A certain day of a certain year and a certain month

I failed to propose to Sister Sanye today either.

This morning on my way to the dojo, I got into a fight with someone. The other person was that handsome but extremely slovenly tengu beggar.

Because he mocked me for proposing to Mitsuha, and even deliberately spoke ill of her, saying things like she was actually quite scary...

I was so angry that I beat him up, but I lost.

Damn it, that guy was lying there looking half-dead, how could he be so strong? What kind of beggar is so good at fighting?

Fortunately, just as he was about to beat me to death, Mitsuha-nee, who was on her way to work at the dojo, arrived and beat the stinking beggar to a pulp.

Sister Sanye is really amazing. Even though she's a girl, she managed to whip that stinky beggar so hard he was crawling all over the ground with just a tree branch.

Afterwards, Sister Sanye took me to Dr. Butterfly's clinic and personally applied the medicine to my wound. I felt so happy.

That beating was well worth it.

Sadly, my marriage proposal to Mitsuha failed again, just like always...

Besides, I felt that Dr. Butterfly was acting a little strange today, but maybe it was just my imagination...

A certain day of a certain year and a certain month

I failed to propose to Sister Sanye today either.

Yesterday, Sanye's brother also moved to town. He is a very tall, handsome, and strong man.

However, unlike the lively Mitsuha, the brother-in-law always has a cold face and looks dazed all day long, but if you get to know him properly, he actually has a pretty good personality and is very easy to talk to.

What's sad is that ever since my brother-in-law became a swordsmanship instructor at the Hundred-Year-Old Dojo, Sister Mitsuha has been going out to play every few days, instead of coming to the dojo every day like before. It's so upsetting...

But maybe this is for the best. I should try to build a good relationship with my brother-in-law now, so that when I propose to Sister Sanye in the future, he might be on my side, hehe...

Strangely enough, both my brother-in-law and Sister Sanye are in poor health and rarely go out during the day. Could this be some kind of hereditary disease?

A certain day of a certain year and a certain month

I failed to propose to Sister Sanye today either.

Everyone says that a fireworks display is the perfect time to confess your feelings.

But why is it that even though I've proposed to Mitsuha-nee at the fireworks festival for three consecutive years, I haven't succeeded even once?

Two years ago, Sister Sanye gave me a piece of rice cake.

Last year, Sister Mitsuha gave me an Inari god mask.

This year, Sister Sanye gave me a rattle drum.

Sigh... They're treating me like a child...

They told me that when I grow up I should marry someone I truly love, but I clearly... sigh...