Early the next morning, the convoy Ubuyashiki had arranged arrived outside the temple.
One carriage was there to take Kanzaki Kumo and Gyomei Himejima to the Demon Slayer Corps, while the rest would take the other children to shelters under Ubuyashiki's name. Once those children were a little older, they, too, would be sent to various trainers in turn. Those with talent would ultimately become Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen, while those without would join the support staff.
From the night they had seen a demon, an ordinary life had ceased to be possible for them.
Kanzaki Kumo was somewhat surprised by this arrangement, but said nothing. In this dangerous world, it was already a rare blessing for orphans like them to grow up safely. There was bound to be some price to pay.
What concerned him more was Ubuyashiki's suppression of information about demons. Only now did he belatedly realize that, when he and Gyomei had shared a room with Kagaya Ubuyashiki yesterday, refusing to join the Demon Slayer Corps had already ceased to be an option. The only difference was whether they joined willingly or otherwise.
For people like them, who had nothing, there were far too many ways to leave them no choice but to follow someone else's arrangements. It was not a question of right or wrong, merely one of where they stood.
The Ubuyashiki Family was not running a charity, after all.
Gyomei wanted to say something more, but the abbot had already tacitly agreed to let the children be taken away, and the person in charge of the convoy had promised to take good care of them. Having likewise struggled at the bottom of society for over a decade, Gyomei knew this was already the best possible outcome. In the end, he simply said goodbye to the children one by one.
The two groups boarded their respective carriages and set off for different destinations.
The interior of Kanzaki Kumo and Gyomei's carriage was fairly spacious, with seats along both sides and the back. Without needing to discuss it, they sat opposite each other on the left and right.
"You could have gone with them," Gyomei said to Kanzaki Kumo after boarding the carriage.
Kanzaki Kumo was only twelve, not much older than the other children. Gyomei could hardly bear to see him get involved in something as dangerous as slaying demons at that age.
"It's only a matter of a few years sooner or later. Isn't it better to gain the strength to protect myself earlier?" Kanzaki Kumo replied noncommittally. Having awakened the memories of his previous life, he naturally would no longer view things from a twelve-year-old's perspective.
Of course, even if he had not awakened those memories, he probably would not have been viewing things from a twelve-year-old's perspective either. After all, he would likely have already become a notch on that demon's performance record that night.
After privately cracking that bit of dark humor, Kanzaki Kumo brushed aside his stray thoughts and returned to the question he had failed to resolve last night: which Breathing Style to choose.
As Kanzaki Kumo sank into thought, Gyomei said no more.
With the gentle jolting of the carriage, Kanzaki Kumo's thoughts gradually drifted.
Breathing Styles were a "specialty" of this world, a special method of training and combat developed by members of the Demon Slayer Corps to strengthen themselves, allowing them to battle demons with human bodies.
The original Breathing Style, Sun Breathing, known as first breathing, came from a genius who had lived several hundred years ago-Yoriichi Tsugikuni, the pinnacle of combat strength in this world across the ages.
He had been born with the Transparent World that countless martial artists dreamed of attaining, allowing him to see through the surface of a human body to its bones, blood, and organs, and thus see through any move an opponent made. This also gave him unparalleled talent for martial arts, allowing him to create Sun Breathing from nothing.
All subsequent Breathing Styles had been created on the foundation of Sun Breathing.
Besides his innate Transparent World, he had also been born with a Demon Slayer Mark that could greatly enhance his body.
This made him so powerful that even the Demon King Muzan feared him.
When Yoriichi and Muzan first met, Muzan, believing himself invincible in this world, had charged straight in, only for Yoriichi to bring him to his knees with twelve slashes in an instant. Had Yoriichi not frozen for a moment, Muzan would have struggled to survive even by exploding himself.
After all, despite that momentary hesitation, Yoriichi had still cut down over fifteen hundred of the more than eighteen hundred fragments Muzan had split himself into.
From then on, Muzan had developed full-blown PTSD over Yoriichi, truly living out the words, "Afterward, even someone who looked a little like you was enough to send me into a panic."
But later, Yoriichi's elder brother, Tsugikuni Michikatsu, awakened a Demon Slayer Mark, and every known person who had awakened one after birth had failed to live past twenty-five.
Out of envy for his younger brother's immense strength and talent, and a desire to escape an early death, Michikatsu Tsugikuni became a demon, offering the head of the Demon Slayer Corps' leader at the time as proof of his allegiance.
Implicated by his actions, Yoriichi Tsugikuni was expelled from the Demon Slayer Corps, and Sun Breathing was lost to the Corps.
The current Demon Slayer Corps possessed five basic Breathing Styles: Wind Breathing, Stone Breathing, Water Breathing, Thunder Breathing, and Flame Breathing.
With his memories of his previous life, Kanzaki Kumo did know where the legacy of Sun Breathing could be found, but the Demon King was most likely already watching that place. He certainly did not dare go looking for death.
Perhaps he would have a chance to make plans for it in the future, but for now, he should stick to choosing a basic Breathing Style.
Besides, the five basic Breathing Styles each inherited certain strengths of Sun Breathing and could even surpass it in those respects. Though they lacked Sun Breathing's all-around strength without any blind spots, they were by no means weak.
In terms of difficulty getting started, Water Breathing was the easiest. It was the most balanced and even-tempered of the major Breathing Styles, with techniques suited to both offense and defense and the lowest physical requirements for beginners. Taken to its pinnacle, it was no weaker than the other Breathing Styles.
But Water Breathing's weakness also lay in being too balanced. It fell short of Wind Breathing and Thunder Breathing in speed, and Flame Breathing and Stone Breathing in attack, only being relatively better at defense.
Thus, Water Breathing was the second style Kanzaki Kumo ruled out.
As for which one he ruled out first, did that even require thought? Stone Breathing, of course.
If Water Breathing had the lowest barrier to entry, Stone Breathing had the highest-so high that only a handful of people in the Demon Slayer Corps' centuries-long history had mastered it. Only someone like Gyomei, born with a terrifyingly powerful body, could practice this Breathing Style.
With Kanzaki Kumo's scrawny arms and legs, even if they were mainly the result of long-term malnutrition, he could never grow to Gyomei's terrifying level just by eating better. Naturally, Stone Breathing was completely out of consideration.
After weighing his options several times, Kanzaki Kumo finally made his decision.
Just then, the carriage slowly stopped. They had arrived at the Demon Slayer Corps' headquarters, the Ubuyashiki Estate.
Straight to headquarters? After stepping out and seeing the familiar style of the estate, Kanzaki Kumo was somewhat surprised. After all, the Demon Slayer Corps kept its headquarters' location highly secret to prevent demons from attacking its base directly, yet on their way here, the carriage windows had been covered by only a thin layer of paper, through which they could faintly see outside.
Regardless, Kagaya Ubuyashiki's action demonstrated his trust in Kanzaki Kumo and Gyomei Himejima, subtly improving their opinion of him.
"Welcome, both of you." Kagaya Ubuyashiki greeted them outside with his wife and two daughters, taking their reception straight to the highest level.
After brief introductions, the group headed inside together.
Kanzaki Kumo's gaze remained fixed on the two white-haired little girls, as delicate as dolls. Of course, this was not because he had any proclivities that might get him arrested and interrogated. He was simply curious.
Hinaki, the slightly older one, looked to be only about four. Nichika was probably her twin. The two were almost indistinguishable in appearance, and even their voices were identical. Even with Kanzaki Kumo's frightening powers of observation, he mostly noticed the subtle differences in the sisters' movements and the tiniest differences in their faces.
Anyone else would probably have had to rely on their clothing to tell them apart.
Only after everyone had taken their seats did Kanzaki Kumo withdraw his curious gaze.
He did not know whether he was imagining it, but he felt that the two little girls seated on either side of the Ubuyashiki couple were looking at him somewhat strangely.
It must be my imagination. What bad intentions could little girls barely a few years old possibly have?
In fact, what had caught Hinaki and Nichika's attention was that Kanzaki Kumo was too young-or perhaps "young" was not the right word. He was too little.
Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen were usually fifteen or older. Even the children in those shelters would be raised until around fifteen before being sent to trainers.
Kanzaki Kumo was only twelve to begin with, and long-term malnutrition left him looking about ten judging by his height. Compared with the other members of the Demon Slayer Corps, he really was far too little.
However, their upbringing kept the sisters from showing anything despite their curiosity. They simply remained quietly in the background.
"Then, is there a Breathing Style you two would like to practice?"
After briefly introducing the Breathing Styles, Kagaya Ubuyashiki asked the question.
Before you continue