"Do you know where Mount Sagiri is?"
Su Mu looked at the girl as he asked.
The girl furrowed her little brows and thought for a moment, then shook her head.
"Then do you know of a family named Kamado living deep in the mountains nearby, one that's made a living selling charcoal for generations?"
The girl furrowed her little brows and thought hard for quite a while, but ultimately shook her head again.
After all, she was only a little girl and clearly knew little about the world beyond her home.
Though Su Mu had more or less expected this result, he still felt somewhat disappointed.
"Are these things very important to you, Uncle?"
The girl tilted her head up.
"Yes."
Su Mu nodded. He needed to reach the place where Tanjiro Kamado lived and find the legendary Blue Spider Lily. Only by devouring that flower could he overcome his weaknesses as a demon.
For now, his willpower could still suppress his craving for flesh and blood. But as his demonic instincts drove that hunger to grow stronger, how long could his willpower hold out? After all, no demon had ever overcome that craving. Even Tamayo, who had escaped Muzan Kibutsuji's control, still needed to drink human blood regularly.
"When I get home, I'll ask around about those places for you, Uncle. If I hear anything, I'll tell you right away."
The girl clenched her little fists, her face utterly earnest.
"Then I'll look forward to your good news."
Su Mu smiled, though he did not put much stock in it. He had no intention of relying on the little girl for information. He would still have to ask other people.
By the time the girl finished her chicken drumstick, the rain had stopped. Su Mu picked her up and, following her directions, carried her home.
"Try not to go outside at night."
Standing before the rather dilapidated door, Su Mu spoke gently to the girl. Demons always prowled at night, and the darkness made danger all the more likely.
"But I still want to see you at night, Uncle."
The girl's little hand clutched the hem of his clothes, her eyes misting over.
"From now on, if I come to see you at night, we can meet right here at your door."
Su Mu smiled and patted her head, then said softly, "Go on inside."
The girl was reluctant to leave. Rather than return to what was supposedly her home, she wanted to stay beside the man before her. But she was an obedient child, and despite her reluctance, she went inside, looking back every few steps.
He watched the girl close the door, then noticed her lovely pinkish-purple eyes peering at him through a narrow gap she had left open.
He waved to her and stepped back, his figure gradually disappearing into the darkness.
After leaving the little girl, Su Mu walked briskly through the town. Its streets were deserted at night, every household's doors and windows tightly shut, but he could clearly sense movement behind some of them.
As a demon, he possessed senses far beyond those of ordinary people. Both his hearing and his vision had grown much sharper than when he was human.
He vaulted lightly over a wall and appeared before a man drinking in his courtyard.
"Who are you?"
Terror spread across the man's face. He instinctively stood up and gripped the stool he had just been sitting on, his gaze wary.
Anyone would have felt uneasy about a stranger suddenly breaking into their home in the middle of the night.
"I just wanted to ask you a few questions."
Su Mu looked at the man and spoke with a smile.
"I don't care what you want to ask. Get out of my house right now, or I'll call for help. The authorities will be here before you know it..."
The man raised the stool, his face full of anger.
"What a hassle. Looks like asking nicely won't work."
Seeing the man's reaction, Su Mu shook his head. Then his figure blurred, and he was in front of the man before he could react.
The man raised the stool almost instinctively, but before he could swing it down, he discovered that the hand holding it had already been seized. His face filled with panic.
Su Mu knocked him to the ground with a single punch.
The man curled up on the ground in pain. When he looked at Su Mu again, his eyes were filled with fear.
"Looks like we can have a proper conversation now."
Su Mu smiled as he looked down at the terrified man.
The man had already felt how powerful the stranger was, and now his eyes were full of terror. After all, it was the dead of night, and no one else was around. If Su Mu wanted to kill him, he would probably die.
"Wh-what do you want to ask?"
The man's voice practically trembled.
"Do you know of a place nearby called Mount Sagiri?"
"N-no, I don't."
The man shook his head, bewildered. Had this stranger broken into his home in the middle of the night just to ask for directions?
"Then do you know anyone nearby who sells charcoal?"
"The Okada Family here in town sells charcoal."
"Anyone besides them? Is there a family named Kamado living deep in the mountains?"
"I... I've never heard of them."
The man thought for a moment, then shook his head.
Su Mu felt disappointed. It seemed the Kamado family did not live nearby. As far as he knew, the charcoal Tanjiro Kamado's family produced was quite good. In the anime, plenty of people bought it when Tanjiro brought it into town, so the family ought to have had something of a reputation. This man knew several charcoal sellers but had never heard of the Kamado family, which clearly suggested they did not live nearby.
Having failed to get the information he wanted, Su Mu lightly vaulted over the wall and left.
Watching Su Mu disappear over the wall, the man sat where he was, slightly dazed. The stranger had simply left, without stealing anything or taking his life. He really had only wanted to ask a few questions.
He found it utterly baffling. Had the man broken into his home in the middle of the night just for that?
Su Mu paid no attention to what the man might be thinking. Having failed to learn the location of Mount Sagiri or anything about the Kamado family, he planned to move on and ask elsewhere.
He knew little about this area, but he had learned that there was a somewhat larger town nearby. It attracted plenty of merchants and travelers from far and wide, who knew the surrounding region well enough that he should be able to get the information he needed.
Traveling in the dead of night was undoubtedly difficult for ordinary people, but for a demon, it could not have been more normal.
Moreover, a demon's physical abilities far surpassed a human's, and demons scarcely knew fatigue. A journey that might have taken an ordinary person two days took Su Mu little more than half a night before he reached a nearby town.
Compared with small villages
, where almost every household shut its doors at night and everything grew quiet, towns were much livelier. Some shops stayed open all night, and certain establishments were even busier after dark than during the day.
Su Mu arrived at the town gates after traveling for more than half the night.
At the gates, however, his footsteps briefly halted. He could hear what sounded like fighting ahead.
He slipped forward quietly and soon got a clear look at the figures fighting.
One wore the standard uniform of the Demon Slayer Corps, with the unmistakable character for "destroy" emblazoned on the back. He was clearly a Corps swordsman. The other was a man dressed as a samurai.
At first, Su Mu thought the Demon Slayer Corps was hunting a demon, but he soon realized that the man dressed as a samurai was not a demon.
He could not help looking surprised.
After all, the swordsmen of the Demon Slayer Corps practiced Breathing Styles. Through those techniques, they could briefly gain physical abilities comparable to a demon's. Ordinary people, even samurai who had trained for years, could scarcely stand against them.