To Xia Xi, this man had plainly stolen his design and the fruits of his labor.
It did not matter which puppet he had swiped them from.
Or whether he had seen the design and secretly cobbled together an imitation himself.
Either way, he ought to pay Xia Xi a patent fee or protection money.
Unless this man had made those Nichirin Flower Paper Earrings before he had.
But how could that be possible?
According to that Intelligence Agent from the Intelligence Department, the man came from a family of charcoal sellers... though "family" might not have been quite the right word.
More precisely, his ancestors had lived in the mountains for generations.
They were ordinary mountain folk who made their living making and selling charcoal.
He had never joined the Demon Slayer Corps or visited the secluded Swordsmith Village.
So where could he have gotten those earrings?
Surely he could not have swiped them from Yoriichi Tsugikuni several hundred years ago.
Xia Xi laughed at his own utterly impossible idea.
Instead, it stirred a keen interest in him.
He continued questioning the Intelligence Agent from the Intelligence Department before him.
"Go on."
"This man knows a Breathing Style too? Which school?"
The Intelligence Agent before him fell silent for a moment.
Sounding uncertain himself, he said, "According to the observation report from our local field Intelligence Agent... it doesn't seem to be one of the five basic Breathing Styles, but rather..."
He cautiously glanced at Xia Xi again.
Only after seeing that the Dawn Hashira still looked curious and serious-
Did he voice something that even he found absurd.
"It's a Breathing Style very similar to yours, Lord Dawn Hashira."
These days, while the Intelligence Department's Intelligence Agents could not claim that every one of them was proficient in