Selling a Pipe Dream

Over the next three months, Muzan hardly created any demons. Instead, he went on a firing spree, turning anyone he disliked into fireworks.

Jiyuki followed behind Muzan, silently keeping count of the subordinates Muzan had snuffed out-over a hundred already!

He was getting more and more scared. With his boss's peculiar fondness for layoffs, sooner or later, he would be fired too!

Whenever the considerate Muzan read thoughts like these, he would pat his shoulder. "Relax. I like you. I won't fire you!"

Jiyuki really couldn't relax!

There had only been a little over two hundred demons to begin with, and Muzan had already snuffed out more than half of them!

Besides, what exactly do you like about me? I'm scared that one day you'll suddenly stop liking me!

Muzan couldn't be bothered to explain.

The two arrived somewhere that had just been through a war.

Although the side they visited had won, its people were still struggling to survive. All they could see were the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled.

The moment Muzan entered the city, he was greeted by a scene straight out of a slum. Skeletal people in clothes that barely covered them filled the roads. Yet, absurdly, a towering building stood in the distance, lavish and extravagant, with enough candles to light the enormous structure from end to end.

The roadsides were muddy and reeked of blood and filth, with flies and insects everywhere.

At the sight of the two, the beggars and refugees lining the streets seemed to have found their saviors, mustering every ounce of strength to plead for help.

Muzan frowned. Honestly, he had seen plenty of scenes like this over the past few months. At first, he had given them some money out of kindness, but the moment he did, everyone would crowd around, as though helping one person meant he had to help them all.

He suddenly turned to Jiyuki. "Let's start a revolution!"

Jiyuki: "???"

What did you just say?

Well, Muzan couldn't be bothered to put in the effort anyway.

His vision wasn't quite that grand.

"Forget it. Too much trouble."

Muzan walked through the refugees, looking around, and noticed a little boy holding his younger sister.

Although the boy looked frail and weak, his eyes were clear. Muzan suddenly felt there was something he could do with this.

"Jiyuki, bring those two children."

Jiyuki: "???"

What does my lord want to do now?

He had figured it out by now. Although Muzan, the Demon King, ate people, he didn't eat indiscriminately, and he would even help people in passing. But that wasn't the important part. What mattered was that his head was always full of things nobody else could understand.

Jiyuki didn't presume to guess what the Demon King was thinking. He walked over without a word, picked up the two children, and followed.

As for their struggles and pleas-they didn't do a damn thing.

They found an inn, with Jiyuki following behind Muzan. The innkeeper said nothing when he saw the two openly holding a pair of children by force.

After booking two rooms, Jiyuki checked Muzan's expression, dumped the children onto the floor, and shut the door.

The two children were frightened. Though the fall left them aching all over, they didn't dare make a sound. They huddled together, staring fearfully at the two wealthy-looking men.

Neither of them looks like the kind to rescue someone out of kindness, and they're so rough. Are they slave traders?!

Muzan softened his footsteps as he approached under their fearful gazes. He crouched in front of the two children and stroked their heads.

"Would you like the power to keep yourselves fed and warm in these troubled times?"

The two children curled up, trembling slightly, afraid to raise their heads. His words took them by surprise, and the boy cautiously looked up. "M-my lord, you..."

A glimmer of hope shone clearly in both their eyes.

Muzan smiled.

"I can give you power, but you'll have to give something in return. Do you have the resolve?"

The little boy swallowed and looked at his skeletal sister, huddled in his arms in clothes that barely covered her.

"Yes!"

Satisfaction showed in Muzan's smile, and he asked again, as if to confirm, "No matter the price?"

The little boy nodded firmly.

"Good." Muzan smiled and stroked his head. Suddenly, his nail lengthened and plunged straight into the boy's skull.

Before the boy could react, terror filled his eyes. His sister bristled in his arms and opened her mouth to bite Muzan's arm.

But Muzan drove a nail into her skull too.

Agonizing pain engulfed the two children. Believing they were about to die, they turned pleading eyes toward Jiyuki, who stood behind Muzan, begging him to show mercy and save their lives.

All they saw, however, was an emotionless face watching the scene coldly.

In truth, Jiyuki was envious.

Muzan withdrew his fingers and watched the two writhe on the floor, screaming in pain. He glanced back at Jiyuki. "I'll give you more blood later."

Muzan had a strong hold over the demons under his command, and he also had some idea of how much of his blood they could withstand. Jiyuki could still take quite a bit more.

The previous scumbag of a boss hadn't cared about making his demons stronger. He had simply given them a little blood to bring them under his control, then left them alone.

Now, Muzan felt it was necessary to strengthen his subordinates.

He didn't want demons he valued to become achievements for the Demon Slayer Corps.

As for the children's screams, even if the soundproofing was poor, nobody would be idle enough to come meddle.

Soon, their pain faded. They lay spread-eagled on the floor, panting heavily, still shaken by the ordeal.

Muzan also learned their names from their thoughts: the older brother was Maruoka Masahito, and the younger sister was Maruoka Yoshiko.

Muzan hadn't given them a great deal of blood, but it wasn't a small amount either. Being able to withstand it meant the two were already strong enough, perhaps even approaching the threshold of a Lower Rank.

Not that the Lower Ranks were particularly strong.

By now, the two understood what had happened. They had become demons that survived by eating people, and the identities of the two men before them were self-evident.

But why us?

Muzan sat on a stool, drinking water that wouldn't taste putrid. "Because I like the two of you."

They froze at his words, their faces showing undisguised shock and panic.

He can read my thoughts too?

"Yes, so don't go thinking anything you shouldn't from now on."

Muzan looked down at them and continued, "Stop lying there. I turned you two into demons because I have a job for you."

They rose and stood before him with their heads lowered, seemingly already sensing that their lives were in his hands. "What do you need us to do?"

Muzan smiled with something of an ambitious schemer's air. "Would you like to try a little kingdom-building?"

"???"

"Would you like to change this world? Create a wonderful world where everyone is equal, with no hunger or oppression?"

To children who had suffered terribly from hunger and cold, Muzan's words were deeply tempting.

Longing crept onto their faces despite themselves, but they simply couldn't believe it. What did a world like that have to do with man-eating demons?

"You now possess power ordinary people don't have. Why couldn't you build a nation with your own hands-a wonderful nation under your rule, where everyone lives and works in peace?"

Like the ringleader of a pyramid scheme, Muzan relentlessly sold them pipe dreams.