The Demon Slayer Sango was tall and slender, with tea-brown eyes that she often accented with pink eyeshadow. Ordinarily, her glossy black hair would have hung down her back, but now she had tied it into a neat ponytail.
With her battle outfit completing the look, she cut a striking, valiant figure.
Many people probably would not believe it...
Neither Li Xia nor Miroku, two grown men, could come close to matching this sixteen-year-old girl in physical strength.
Not unless Li Xia enhanced himself with a premium Strength Talisman.
"Sango, Kirara, welcome aboard!"
Everyone smiled at their two new companions.
Kirara gave a little chirp, and Sango responded very politely:
"Please look after us from now on!
By the way, where is my little brother Kohaku?
Why haven't I seen his body?"
"Kohaku? We didn't see him when we arrived..."
"You didn't see him?"
How could that be?
A look of bewilderment appeared on Sango's face.
"We really didn't!"
Li Xia nodded with absolute certainty.
"After we killed a swarm of flying poisonous insects blocking our way, we headed for the castle as fast as we could. When we arrived, we happened to see the Castle Guard carrying your bodies into the backyard where the young lord lived!
"We immediately felt something was wrong with that young lord. If he wanted to bury you, there was no reason to bury the bodies in his own backyard! Taking them outside the castle or finding a corner to cremate them would have been the normal way to handle it!
"Burying skilled fighters like you in his own backyard meant he either had some other scheme in mind, or planned to dig you up and eat you once everyone was asleep!"
Li Xia felt not the slightest guilt about painting Naraku in a bad light.
To be fair, though, his deductions matched the original story perfectly.
It was just that Naraku had not intended to eat those skilled Demon Slayers. He had wanted to use Sango and Kohaku in his schemes.
Unfortunately, Sango had been too young, and her injuries had left her distracted and exhausted. In the original timeline, she had failed to notice these subtle flaws in Naraku's disguise as the young lord.
"A young lord burying us in his own backyard? That certainly is suspicious..."
Sango nodded, growing considerably more wary of Hiten, the young lord.
Once someone pointed it out, she could see things clearly enough.
Beside her, Li Xia briefly recounted everything that followed.
"Inuyasha and I both realized that, so we ventured a guess that the young lord might actually be the demon's true body! Higurashi's detection of more than twenty Shikon Shards only strengthened our conviction!
"Of course, our first concern was that you and your Second Uncle were still alive, Sango. Your lives were hanging by a thread, but you could still be saved. We also didn't know what we were facing, and any major battle could have caught the thousands of ordinary people in the castle in the crossfire. That was why we didn't act rashly or alert the enemy!
"Instead, we drove off the guards first and brought you back to the village.
"We planned to wait until you had recovered a little before going back to get to the bottom of it all..."
His explanation was well reasoned and reasonably clear, making it convincing.
"Thank you!"
In just a few words, the girl's goodwill toward Li Xia and the others multiplied.
With Sango and Kirara joining the team,
the group's overall combat strength increased considerably, and its weaknesses in agile aerial combat and underwater combat were largely addressed.
If they encountered another swarm of Saimyosho in midair, Sango and Kirara would be more than capable of handling it.
And unlike the original story, where everyone had simply banded together to make do,
this time Sango had joined not only out of her own firm resolve, but also carrying the wishes of all her surviving clanspeople!
She had come to repay a debt!
That meant the awful episode from the original timeline could never happen: shortly after joining, Sango had betrayed her companions for Kohaku's sake despite her guilt, stealing Inuyasha's Tessaiga to meet Naraku.
Had Inuyasha not been so forgiving, no one could have blamed him for cutting Sango down.
Besides, Li Xia had already given her a warning in advance. He had hinted that Kohaku might already have been eaten by the demon plotting everything behind the scenes! If "another" Kohaku appeared later, she would have to beware of a demon impersonating him!
If Naraku still wanted to use Kohaku to stir up trouble then, he had better prepare to serve as their delivery captain.
Li Xia could not agree with Kikyo's approach.
In the original story, Kikyo had initially intended to use Naraku to quickly gather the Shikon Shards scattered across the land, then purify him along with the completed Shikon Jewel! Undeniably, it was the fastest, most efficient method, bar none!
A comparison with the Protagonist Group made that clear.
By the time the [Protagonist Group], with every head start and all their exhausting travels, had obtained eight shards, [Naraku], who had started late, had somehow collected twenty or thirty Shikon Shards in even less time!
The gap was pretty obvious, wasn't it?!
Granted, had Kikyo been at her full strength from when she was alive, she would have had nothing to fear even against Naraku as a six-star great demon after Mount Hakurei! Her ability to shatter the Purple Barrier with a single arrow, when even the Red Tessaiga could do nothing to it, proved her strength!
But she had ultimately miscalculated two things:
First, she had overestimated the limits of her Clay Body!
Second, she had underestimated how quickly Naraku would grow!
If Naraku had not absorbed Moryomaru and the Red Child, further elevating his Demon Power, Kikyo would still have had a chance of winning a direct confrontation! Unfortunately, who could have imagined that Naraku would create the Red Child, then let him build a Moryomaru puppet comparable to a six-star great demon?!
After absorbing both of them, Naraku's Demon Power and strength soared!
For a weakened Kikyo to confront him head-on was practically handing him a free kill!
A textbook case of spending full health on romance, then going wild on a sliver of health!
Had Naraku not seen Kikyo die late in the story, leaving no trace in the world of the woman he had always wanted but could never possess, he would not have lost his will to live and chosen to face the Protagonist Group in a way that practically handed them victory...
Without that, what could the dog brothers have done to Naraku, even after growing stronger?
Whether he ran, hid, or resorted to underhanded tricks was entirely up to that final boss!
"Higurashi, for the next two weeks, this Demon Slayer instructor skilled in archery and I will train you with the bow. Make sure you study and practice diligently, and don't slack off! You're the trump card on our team who has yet to show her strength!"
Li Xia encouraged her.
"Mr. Xia, I'm counting on you!"
Kagome's eyes shone like stars.
After that,
the surviving wounded villagers quickly brought their injuries under control with the modern medicines Li Xia and Kagome had brought.
Since these people from ancient times had never taken any antibiotics, the modern medicines worked remarkably well.
In addition, they used the power of the Shikon Shards to improve and strengthen many herbs that nourished the body and restored vitality. By enhancing the ingredients, they strengthened several kinds of healing medicine, accelerating each patient's recovery.
Sango, her Second Uncle, and Miroku likewise only needed to rest and recuperate.
Inuyasha began training with Kirara by clashing their demonic auras. In her larger form, Kirara released her aura to collide with his, creating a rift between them.
The principle behind the demonic blade Tessaiga's Wind Scar was to exploit the rift in the wind produced when two demonic winds collided. Cutting into that rift with Tessaiga would unleash a tremendously powerful gale that tore the enemy apart!
That was the Wind Scar!
To keep Inuyasha from accidentally shaving Kirara bald with a poorly controlled swing, Li Xia specifically had someone fit the little creature with a suitably sized, exceptionally sturdy helmet!
For Kagome, of course, the task was archery practice.
The girl had considerable natural strength and could draw a bow to shoot an arrow sixty or seventy paces. Her aim simply left much to be desired.
On the first morning, she practiced at the [fifteen-meter target]. The initial requirement was ninety hits out of a hundred arrows to pass and advance to the [twenty-meter target].
Getting started was always hard, and no one could master everything in a single leap.
The main purpose of the first day was to build confidence and get a feel for it.
Self-confidence was especially important.
That was why it would not do to start with the challenge of shooting sixty or seventy meters.
That would only undermine the girl's confidence.
The results: ninety-nine hits on the [fifteen-meter target], mostly in the high-scoring rings; ninety-seven hits on the [twenty-meter target], again with a very high proportion in the high-scoring rings; and, pushing onward, ninety-two hits on the [twenty-five-meter target]!
"Well done, Higurashi. You really have a talent for this..."
Li Xia did not hold back his praise.
"Huh? I do?"
Kagome felt a little embarrassed by the compliment.
"You do. It's genuinely impressive! After all, you only first picked up a bow a month ago!"
And the crucial point was that she had been entirely self-taught!
No one had taught Kagome any of the finer points, and she had hardly settled down to train seriously.
For her to achieve those results under such circumstances made her talent for archery plain to see.
So Kagome thoroughly enjoyed her first day of practice.
Without realizing it, the way she looked at Li Xia grew increasingly meaningful! Unfortunately, Li Xia did not notice at all!
Everyone had their own training goals, and there was no reason for Li Xia to take it easy.
During this time, he, Inuyasha, and old Myōga made time to ride Kirara over to visit Totosai.
Afterward, with old Myōga leading the way, they headed to a secluded place where a Yōsen lived.
This was part of the wealth of resources backing Inuyasha.
Surely there was nothing wrong with him tagging along for a small share?
Before you continue