He looked at the dust on the ground, thinking of how the sunlight had destroyed the demon's body little by little, and of the despair in his eyes.
Yuichiro couldn't help murmuring, "What exactly are demons?"
"...A kind of pitiful creature."
Tetsu no Sosuke answered quietly.
After all the exertion the previous night, Yuichiro was mentally and physically exhausted, so they traveled a little more slowly the next day.
Still, taking it slowly had its advantages. By the second evening, they happened to reach a Wisteria House. Master and apprentice went inside to rest, and Yuichiro ate his fill and went to sleep thoroughly satisfied.
With their energy restored, they continued on their way. Several more days passed before Tetsu no Sosuke took out the map and carefully compared it against their surroundings, then had Yuichiro take a look as well. Once they confirmed that this was the spot marked on the map, both of them breathed a sigh of relief.
"We're finally here." Yuichiro perked up. "Master, what are we looking for?"
"...Something good. But you're wrong about one thing. We're not there yet—we haven't even started looking." Tetsu no Sosuke checked the map, then finally worked out their bearings and said, "Come on. That way."
It was a mountainous area with plenty of trees, though none were particularly tall.
The paths weren't hidden, but jagged rocks made them especially difficult to walk.
Searching with that crude map to guide them undoubtedly made the task much harder, too.
Master and apprentice kept getting lost, then returning to a familiar spot before trying another path... This happened at least three times a day, until they both lost all faith in each other's map-reading skills.
After stumbling along, the two of them finally found the location marked on the