Minamino Hirotomo finally fell silent. He sighed regretfully, deepening the wrinkles on his face.
People were emotional creatures... Who could truly be completely at peace in a situation like this?
Back in his modest home, not only was his daughter waiting for him, but his wife and mother were there too, along with all the relatives and friends—familiar and unfamiliar—who cared about him...
And yet, look at him now... He was nothing more than a lonely ghost, dependent on others for shelter...
"You're both fortunate and unfortunate." Roy was silent for a long while before reaching out to help Minamino Hirotomo to his feet. With a solemn expression, he said, "I'll grant your Request."
"Tanjiro, bring me your water bottle."
"Okay."
Tanjiro didn't know what his big brother wanted the water bottle for, but he obeyed, carrying the oil lamp as he braved the wind and snow and entered the shrine.
Roy took Minamino Hirotomo's hand, enveloped his lingering spirit in Nen, and silently followed behind.
He stepped over the high threshold, drew his foot back inside, and shut the shrine's door, keeping all the wind and snow out.
"Wooo..." The cold wind swept over the mountainside, wailing like a ghost.
After being cleaned, the shrine no longer smelled of blood and looked as good as new.
They chopped up another broken plank for firewood and lit a bonfire. Soon, the room was as warm as spring.
Just then, Tanjiro brought over the water bottle.
Roy unscrewed its cap, took his own water bottle from his clothes, and poured all the water into Tanjiro's bottle, leaving his own empty. Then he said to Minamino Hirotomo, "You'll have to make do inside the bottle tonight."
"Once it's light, I'll take you to look for your family."
"Sorry for the trouble, Lord Eiichiro." Minamino Hirotomo bowed.
When he raised his head again, he had already turned into a wisp of light. Roy guided him with Nen, and he disappeared into the bottle.
"Pop." The stopper fell into place with a faint thud...
Only then did Roy smile and say, "It's no trouble. We were heading to Mount Sagiri anyway, so it's right along the way."
The water bottle trembled slightly, as if in reply...
Tanjiro craned his neck and came closer, peering at it and feeling it over. It was his first time seeing the astonishing sight of someone being sealed inside a bottle.
Unable to resist his curiosity, he asked, "Nii-san, can people be sealed inside bottles?"
"People can't. Demons can." Roy slapped Tanjiro's little hand away, tucked the bottle into his clothes, and began nourishing it with a thread of Nen.
Thinking back on Tanjiro's question, the first demon that sprang to mind was Gyokko, Upper Rank Five of the Twelve Kizuki.
In the original story, Gyokko could not only shrink himself and hide inside a pot, but also grow larger by shedding his skin. He clearly had considerable talent when it came to space.
"Oh... I thought you could seal me in there too. Then I could follow Nii-san around wherever you went."
Tanjiro was clearly disappointed. He sulked off to sit by himself...
Roy tossed two dumplings at him, hitting him on the head.
His foolish little brother really thought Roy's water bottle was the Purple Gold Red Gourd, and that all he had to do was call out to someone to suck them inside?
What a ridiculous idea...
Night gradually deepened, and the wind and snow showed no sign of letting up outside.
Roy and Tanjiro sat around the bonfire, ate two dumplings, and drank a couple of mouthfuls of water before laying out their bedding on the floor.
Their mother, Kie, had stuffed a blanket into the back basket to cushion the charcoal. Once the coal dust had been shaken off, it could serve as a quilt.
After finishing his dumplings, Tanjiro lay down beside Roy. Turning to watch the flames dance, he murmured, "Hey... Nii-san, do you think the world outside is cruel?"
Whether it was the woodcutter eaten by Sato Takeichiro or Minamino Hirotomo, whose guts had been ripped out by Dohi, Tanjiro had seen far too many dead people these past few days... He had also witnessed how terrifying demons could be...
He tossed and turned, unable to sleep, staring at Roy with bright, wide eyes.
Roy folded his hands over his stomach, simply closed his eyes, and pretended to be asleep.
Everyone saw the world differently... Maybe to some people, this place was Hell. But look at it from another angle—from the perspective of the demons, led by Muzan—and what Hell? It was obviously paradise.
A paradise where blood and food were there for the taking, everywhere.
"Hmph..." When Tanjiro got no answer, he grumbled and turned his back in a huff.
Roy couldn't be bothered to indulge him. He tried to empty his mind and soon drifted off to sleep.
That familiar sensation of falling came over him...
The boy opened his eyes again and found himself back in the familiar bedroom.
The night had been long and short all at once, as if nothing had happened and yet everything had. Only the clock chiming in the corner reminded Roy...
It was four in the morning. Time to go running.
Hot, that was the word...
Roy pulled on a tank top and shorts and ran through Kukuroo Mountain, admiring the scenery, so different from the Demon Slayer world. He still felt dazed, as if he hadn't yet shaken off the world he'd just experienced.
Only when he reached the mountainside and saw the lights on in Butler Villa, with plenty of people already busy at work, did he begin to come back to himself.
He could even catch a faint whiff of freshly baked bread from the kitchen... Roy finally came to his senses. Without breaking stride, he continued running toward the foot of the mountain.
"One kilometer, two kilometers... My pace seems a little faster than before..."
Thanks to Breathing Style and his progress with Shadow Step, Roy could clearly feel his speed increasing. He opened his status panel for a quick look—
[Constitution] had grown from 10.05 to 10.55... The equivalent of adding "half an ordinary person" to his previous level.
Not bad. It wasn't a huge improvement, but at least he'd broken through the bottleneck...
A faint smile curved Roy's lips. His mood lifted a little, and he sped along. In the blink of an eye, he reached the security booth.
"Good morning, Young Master." Zee, the guard on duty at the security booth, didn't yet look like the "old man in a tank top" he would become later. In his prime, he still had some hair, though his hairline had receded badly and was well on its way to a bald spot.
He took off his hat and bowed to Roy.
Roy returned his greeting with a smile and was about to leave when a deafening "Boom!" rang out.
The mountain gate, a symbol of the Zoldyck family's "absolute strength," had been pushed open from the outside inward—three gates in all!
Also known as the Testing Gate, the mountain gate had seven gates in total, from the smallest to the largest. The smallest weighed two tons, and each successive gate was twice as heavy as the last. Opening three gates meant the person had reached an astonishing strength of fourteen tons!
"Welcome home, Young Master Illumi."
After greeting Roy, Zee had to greet Illumi as well. He took off the hat he'd just put back on and realized with some surprise that this was the first time he'd run into two young masters at this hour.
"Boom!" The mountain gate closed, making another deafening sound...
Illumi walked in without expression, ignoring Zee completely.
His hollow eyes fixed on Roy...
"Just so you know..."
"I've opened my Aura Nodes too."
Before you continue