Eat It

The two little brats hadn't gotten far before Muzan dragged them back, tossed them onto the tatami, and locked the door.

The next day, when the two were let out, they found two bowls of meat porridge already sitting on the table.

Both went pale. Surely it wasn't...

Even though the steaming porridge smelled delicious, they felt nothing but nausea.

Muzan walked in, saw their expressions, and said helplessly, "It's pork porridge."

The two gave him suspicious looks.

Muzan said, "...I'm not lying!"

They still refused to eat.

"Fine. If you won't eat it, go throw it out yourselves."

Muzan swept out of the room.

In the end, the two went hungry all morning.

Famished, they decided to go out and find food. But as soon as they stepped out of the thatched hut, they saw a wooden house that had appeared out of nowhere. It wasn't exactly luxurious, but it wasn't shabby either.

Long eaves extended all around the wooden house, casting a broad stretch of shade.

Muzan sat in the shade with a book in his hand and an umbrella propped beside him.

Hearing their footsteps, Muzan said, "Oh, still hungry?"

Yoriichi looked displeased, though his perpetually expressionless face made it hard to tell. Shi, on the other hand, glared fiercely at him.

"There's rice and unhusked rice in the kitchen. If you want rice porridge, cook it yourselves."

With that, Muzan leisurely went back to his book.

Yoriichi turned to Shi. "Stay inside, and watch out for this guy. I'll go find food."

Speechless, Muzan looked up at Yoriichi. Fine, the little brat had some backbone.

The next day, when Yoriichi and Shi woke up, they discovered their surroundings had changed.

They were no longer in the little thatched hut.

It was Muzan!

They both realized it at once.

They rushed out of the room and found two bowls of rice porridge and steamed buns on the table in the outer room.

They were piping hot and smelled wonderful.

Both swallowed. Yesterday, they had found some wild vegetables and eaten them with the food stored in the thatched hut, so they had managed to fill their bellies.

But what two children cooked was merely edible. It couldn't compare to the cooking of someone like Muzan, who had lived long enough to learn just about everything.

Resisting their appetites, they left the room and saw Muzan reclining in a rocking chair in the side room, his eyes closed as he dozed.

Their movements seemed to wake him.

Muzan glanced at them, walked over, and saw that the breakfast inside hadn't been touched. "What, not hungry?"

Neither said a word, making their stance clear through their actions.

Muzan let out a leisurely sigh. "Well, fine."

Then he walked over, picked up a bowl of porridge, abruptly grabbed Yoriichi, clamped a hand around his jaw, and started pouring it into his mouth. "Drink it, brat!"

Yoriichi sputtered, "Mmph, mmph! Leh go uh me! (Let go of me!)"

Shi hurried over and grabbed Muzan's arm, trying to stop him. But her meager strength was useless; instead, she had delivered herself right into his hands.

After pouring the porridge into Yoriichi's mouth, Muzan grabbed Shi, picked up the other bowl, and poured it into hers. "You drink it too!"

Shi wanted to cry. ╥﹏╥

With no weapon in his hands, Yoriichi tugged futilely at Muzan.

Muzan set the bowl on the table with a bang, while Shi stood to one side with tears in her eyes.

Yoriichi was just about to go comfort Shi when Muzan grabbed him and stuffed a steamed bun straight into his mouth. "Eat it all! Don't waste food!"

Yoriichi's mouth was stuffed full, his face still expressionless.

"Wash the bowls when you're done. If you don't eat, I'll shove it into your mouths!"

In the end, the two children reluctantly finished breakfast and washed the bowls.

Muzan watched them finish washing up while reading his book. "See? There we go."

Neither wanted to speak. They turned to leave.

"Don't leave yet. Come here."

Muzan stood up and put down his book. The two exchanged a glance, unwilling to follow him.

Muzan said, "..."

He could only turn around and pick them up, one in each hand.

He carried them into the study, dropped them onto stools, took two books from the shelf, and set them in front of the children. "Start copying."

The two little children looked up at him wordlessly.

Muzan said, "What are you looking at me for? Do I have words written on my face?"

Yoriichi couldn't take it anymore. He suddenly stood up and tipped his head back to meet Muzan's eyes, though his face remained expressionless. "What exactly are you trying to do?"

"Have you study. How many characters do you even know right now? Don't you need to learn a few more?"

Yoriichi said nothing, only stared at Muzan.

"All right, all right. You two kids have it hard enough on your own, and now you're unhappy that I'm raising you?"

"We don't need help from a demon. If you don't want to eat us, please let us go."

Yoriichi's voice was flat, but he was utterly serious.

For a moment, Muzan didn't know what to say. Yoriichi really did have some backbone.

"How should I put this? I did save your lives from that half-demon, didn't I? And even if I am a demon, that doesn't mean I'll hurt innocent people."

Yoriichi froze. "What do you mean?"

The Demon King could be a good person?

He wouldn't hurt innocent people?

What kind of joke was that?

"Demons used to be human too. I just want to stay alive, that's all. Besides, I only eat evil people. You really don't need to be so hostile."

"You only eat evil people? What about all those demons who slaughter innocents? Didn't you create them?"

"Didn't I just finish downsizing? Those demons have all been struck off the roster. Apart from half-demons, humans might be the only ones still slaughtering innocents now."

Yoriichi was only a child and already knew very little about demons. Hearing Muzan say this left him at a loss.

"All right, get on with copying those books."

Seeing his expression, Muzan shut the door with a slam.

He wanted to see whether Yoriichi would still nearly kill him, as he had in the original story, if Muzan raised him.

Besides, it really was rather pitiful for two children like Yoriichi and Shi to have only each other to rely on. Having read the original story, he wanted to help them too.

Give them a "complete" childhood, or something like that.

And naturally, no complete childhood would be complete without copying books!

The next day, after breakfast, Yoriichi and Shi were about to continue copying books together when Muzan stopped them.

"Want to learn swordsmanship?"

Yoriichi looked puzzled.

"I brought back your sword from that day. And Shi, would you like to learn too?"

Muzan took two swords out of the cabinet behind him and handed them to the children.

Yoriichi accepted his sword and looked at Muzan. "Thank you."

"Well, then, let me hear you call me Dad."

Yoriichi said, "..."

"I've pretty much adopted you now, haven't I? That makes me your father, right? What's wrong with calling me Dad?"

Expressionless, Yoriichi took Shi's hand and led her outside, then looked at Muzan from the sunlight as if challenging him.

Muzan said, "..."

Fine!

Just wait until I find the Blue Spider Lily!

Perhaps Yoriichi really did have cheats enabled. As a freak capable of creating his own Breathing Style, he needed no lessons or guidance in swordsmanship. That day, he mostly developed sword techniques on his own while also teaching Shi.

Unfortunately, this wasn't a novel, and Shi wasn't the female lead. She had no cheats. Though she wasn't completely untalented, her talent was only average.

Learning swordsmanship would only help her protect herself.

But that was enough. If a half-demon appeared in the future while Yoriichi and Muzan weren't nearby, all she needed was to be able to escape.