Demon Slayer: Starting with the Kingdom

Mitsuha sighed helplessly as she quickly flipped through the manuscripts written in English or German.

"These days, does nobody read newspapers if they don't include some political topics...?"

"There are other topics too!"

Upon hearing this, the male reporter immediately shoved another article into Mitsuha's hands, excitedly saying:

"Breaking news from the Americas! The Spanish-American War has ended!"

The United States successfully defeated Spain and achieved final victory! In response, European countries expressed…

"Isn't this the same..."

Leaning back in her chair, looking at the pile of new manuscripts in her hands, Mitsuha was too exhausted to even complain.

"War politics, war politics... I feel like every day since I started working, the articles I translate and write are related to these two topics?"

Ultimately, do the people who buy our newspaper really care about this little war between the United States and Spain?

Don't we have any stories that are more relevant to people's daily lives to report?

"Uh... does a large reward offered by the daughter of a member of the Imperial Council for finding her lost cat count?"

"Sigh, never mind, no need to read them one by one, just give them all to me, I'll look at them myself later..."

The male reporter immediately shoved all the manuscripts in his hand into Mitsuha's hands and quickly left.

"Ah, right, Mitsuha!"

At the same time, an older female colleague sitting not far away suddenly called out to Mitsuha, blinking and saying:

"The editor-in-chief came to see you before, hoping you could get some firsthand information from your congressman brother for our newspaper, you know..."

That's right, that's why Mitsuha is late for work every day and isn't fired from the newspaper despite being so "arrogant".

Besides being fluent in multiple languages ​​and being an indispensable key translator in the entire newspaper, the most important thing is that she has a brother who is a congressman serving in the House of Representatives.

According to the Imperial Constitution promulgated a few years ago, this island nation, modeled after the political systems of Western countries, established a constitutional monarchy and a corresponding imperial parliament.

According to the Constitution, men who are 25 years of age or older and pay more than a certain amount of national taxes will automatically be eligible to vote for members of the House of Representatives.

So, who exactly is Mitsuha's "senator brother"?

The answer is her own brother, Tsugikuni Kokushige.

In the year the election law was introduced, he was the most famous, the richest, and the highest-paying dojo master in that small town.

Yan Sheng inexplicably gained the right to run for a seat in the House of Representatives, then inexplicably became a full member of the House of Representatives through the election of the townspeople, and finally inexplicably began his days working in the House of Representatives...

Just a few months ago, Yen Sheng concluded his campaign for his third term as a member of parliament, successfully extending his political career to a third term...

That's really quite interesting.

"That fat bastard, all he does is exploit his employees. Sooner or later, my brother will find a reason to shut down his newspaper..."

"Don't be like that, Mitsuha~ If the newspaper really shuts down, all of us will be homeless~"

"These days, jobs are everywhere. If all else fails, I can just switch to another newspaper..."

With that, Mitsuha picked up the manuscript in front of her and began to translate it one by one.

"To be honest, I'm getting tired of this job too. I originally started this job to read those novel and interesting news stories."

Why is it that all we see these days are these boring political war games? They've been going on for centuries, don't we get tired of them?

Just then, someone pushed open the door to the editorial office and called out to Mitsuha:

"A man who claims to be your friend just came looking for you. I told him to wait in the meeting room. Go and see him!"

Chapter 122 Let's cause some trouble together, Holy Maiden!

"My friend? Who is that?"

Mitsuha looked puzzled.

How could she not know that she had other friends outside?

"I don't know, he didn't say his name, he just said he was a big director. Anyway, Mitsuha, you should go and see him..."

Getting up and leaving the editorial department, Mitsuha walked quickly down the corridor to the reception room. As soon as she opened the door, she saw the tall figure sitting obediently on the sofa with a smile on his face.

"It's really you."

The figure was also wearing a large trench coat, a top hat, and leather shoes, looking like a gentleman with a full head of white hair and a pair of colorful pupils, handsome and dashing.

With such distinctive features, this person is undoubtedly the Upper Moon Two of the Twelve Demon Moons—Doma.

"Your Holiness, we meet again~"

Faced with Doma's smiling greeting, Mitsuha closed the door without hesitation and prepared to leave.

But the next second, Douma rushed forward at lightning speed and grabbed the doorknob.

"Your Holiness! I have come today to tell you something important!"

"Stop talking nonsense, what important thing could you possibly have to say?"

If you want to cause trouble, go find someone else. I've only been at this job for two months, and I have no intention of changing jobs now!

The two were locked in a struggle between themselves through a door. Mitsuha was desperately trying to close the door, while Doma was pulling her back to prevent her from doing so.

"It's about the Demon Slayer Corps!"

"Then go find my brother! He's also Upper Moon One! And he's a member of the House of Representatives now! Don't bother this little newspaper editor!"

"I've discovered the Demon Slayer Corps's swordsman selection site!"

"……what?"

Mount Fujikasa is the location where the Demon Slayer Corps conducts its final swordsman selection.

A strange mountain where wisteria blooms all year round, every moment.

The wisteria flowers covering the mountains and plains encircled the entire Vine Mountain like a prison. Any weak evil spirit caught inside would be completely trapped and unable to escape.

The selection process for the Demon Slayer Corps involves throwing groups of prospective swordsmen into the mountains each year and having them find a way to "survive" for seven days.

Regardless of the process, as long as you can leave Fujikasayama alive after seven days without any injuries, you will be considered to have passed the selection and become a formal demon hunter.

It is worth mentioning that, with very few exceptions, the vast majority of these prospective swordsmen had never actually fought any demons before entering Fujikasane Mountain, making them absolute rookies among rookies.

As a result, the number of swordsmen who can pass the final selection each year in the Demon Slayer Corps has always been very small.

Nine out of ten people survived, and the total number of people wiped out was not uncommon.

To be honest, Mitsuha sometimes really felt that the Ubuyashiki clan was even more ruthless than her. At least she couldn't bring herself to be so cruel to her own people or ordinary people who had nothing to do with her interests.

Compared to the people of this clan, she often genuinely believed herself to be quite kind...

Inside the reception room, after listening to Mitsuha's story, Doma, who had sat back on the sofa, immediately wore a mournful expression.

"So, Your Excellency, you actually knew about Fujikazeyama's existence all along?!"

"Are you kidding me? Do you really think my abilities are just for show?"

Mitsuha rolled her eyes at him and waved her hand, saying:

"I've known about Mount Fujikasane for hundreds of years. I even went in a few times to watch the selection process for those demon hunters. It was bloody, ugly, and incredibly boring..."

Yes, thanks to her ability to see through cause and effect, Mitsuha actually learned about the existence and exact location of Mount Fujikasane from the Demon Slayer a long time ago, and even went there herself.

After all, those so-called wisteria flowers could only hold off weak little devils; to a powerful evil spirit like her, they were practically useless.

"Sometimes I don't understand, the Ubuyashiki family is a prominent 'noble family'."

How could they come up with such a selection mechanism that even nouveau riche couldn't create, and maintain it for eight hundred years?

Such inefficiency and waste, yet for eight hundred years not a single person has considered reforming it. Has the curse of the gods truly smoothed out all the wrinkles in their minds?

Mitsuha, a former daimyo, didn't hold back in mocking the Demon Slayer Corps' absurd selection process.

Beside him, Doma asked curiously:

"Since you already knew about Fujishiyama's existence, why have I never heard you mention it before?"

"None of you have asked me?"

Mitsuha replied to this as a matter of course.

Inside the room, the two demons locked eyes, and Doma immediately narrowed his eyes.

"Your Holiness, you are not being honest."

There's a hint of lying about Mitsuha.

"Okay, okay, actually it's because I don't really want that Vine-Covered Mountain to disappear, alright..."

After all, it's a place where flowers bloom all year round, defying the laws of nature. Anyone with eyes can see that this must be another back door opened by the gods in heaven for the Ubuyashiki clan.

If we just let it get away so easily, who knows what kind of mess it will cause next.

Rather than that, it's better to let it continue to exist...

Just like the foolish Ubuyashiki clan, rather than completely annihilating them, it's better to keep these puppet idiots around and let them lead those demon hunters to continue their incompetence.

That way everyone will be satisfied, right?

After saying that, Mitsuha stretched and prepared to get up and leave.

"So that's it. No matter what you want to do to the Demon Slayer Corps next, Doma, don't come looking for me."

I've lost interest in lawn-mowing games, and besides, I have to go to work. Goodbye.

"In that case..."

But at that moment, Doma suddenly spoke up.

He watched Mitsuha's retreating figure as she stood up, and slowly asked:

"Has Your Excellency ever considered making the Demon Slayer Corps a little 'stronger,' so that this game between them and us can become a bit more interesting?"

Mitsuha suddenly stopped, turned around to look at him, and frowned in confusion:

"What do you mean?"

"In a few months, the 20th century will be almost here..."

Turning his head to look at the bustling city outside the window, Tong Mo smiled and said slowly in a meaningful tone:

"In this new era, doesn't Your Majesty want to present our old rivals with a generous gift?"

For example, a chosen one who can bring hope to the Demon Slayer Corps, which has been dormant for over a hundred years?

Chapter 123 Akaza, Doctor of Literature (Bonus Chapter)

Finally becoming somewhat interested, Mitsuha sat back down, looking at the deliberately pretentious Doma in front of her.

"Go on, what do you want to do?"

"To be honest, Your Excellency, I'm currently struggling to write a screenplay for a medieval European film about vampires and witch hunters."

The main difficulty was that I wanted to write a story about a witcher who was unaware of his vampire bloodline, and how he gradually betrayed his companions as the story progressed, eventually falling into the form of the very monster he once despised.

However, I have never been able to accurately grasp the core emotional conflict of this story, and I don't know how I should describe it.

So I would like to ask Your Excellency to do me a small favor and rehearse this story in real life so that I can gather some material and inspiration..."

"So, Doma, you mean you hope to use my abilities to create a 'chosen one' for the Demon Slayer Corps?"

Then, according to your ideas, design a predetermined destiny trajectory for this chosen one.

And so, we'll follow this trajectory to see how the story ultimately evolves, is that right?

Mitsuha finally understood why Doma had come today.

Doma nodded deeply and snapped his fingers.

"I believe that with the Saintess's current Blood Demon Arts abilities, she can easily accomplish this!"

"That's interesting... Great, I agree."

After only a brief moment of consideration, Mitsuha agreed to Doma's request.

How could she possibly refuse something so interesting?