Want to read ahead? Join my Patreon for just $7 to get early access to all upcoming chapters!
> Patreon.com/NegativeTranslations
─────
Chapter 82: The Final Backup Plan
After dinner.
Takagi Saya completely ignored the gazes of the others. She hugged one of Suyan's arms, pressing herself tightly against him.
Using the soft, sweet voice of a little sister, she asked, "Big Brother, what did you see behind that weird door this time? Can you tell us?"
However, none of the girls found Takagi Saya's actions strange. It seemed they were long used to it.
That's just how tsunderes were.
Once they completely dropped their pride and only had the 'dere' left, they turned into total sweethearts.
Of course, getting to this point involved a process.
From initially being too proud to join in.
To later feeling uncomfortable watching the others act spoiled with Suyan.
To finally breaking down and awkwardly acting spoiled with him herself.
And now, Takagi Saya could completely ignore everyone else's stares and snuggle with Suyan as if no one else was in the room.
As for the other side of Suyan, it was occupied by the lazy-looking Marikawa Shizuka.
She had claimed the prime real estate beside him early on. Lounging lazily on the sofa, she rested the back of her head on Suyan's lap. She grabbed his hands and placed them on her head, squinting her eyes, seemingly uninterested in their conversation.
Suyan understood Marikawa Shizuka's intention. His ten fingers began to apply pressure, gently massaging her scalp.
This caused the beautiful, clumsy blonde to occasionally let out soft hums that left plenty to the imagination.
Hearing Takagi Saya's question, Suyan kept his hands moving while lifting his head to scan the faces of the girls.
He found that aside from Marikawa Shizuka on his lap, everyone else seemed quite interested in Takagi Saya's question.
So, Suyan cleared his throat and explained, "You guessed right. Behind that door is indeed a new world—a world without zombies."
As his words fell, gasps of amazement appeared on the girls' faces.
Even though they had suspected the existence of other worlds ever since they were transported to this pocket dimension called Greed Island.
Hearing Suyan confirm it still left them unable to suppress their surprise.
"Then can you tell us about it?" Busujima Saeko was the first to react, asking curiously. "What kind of world is it? Is it a so-called parallel world? Could there be another version of us in there?"
"Stepping through that door leads to the island nation during the Taisho Era (1912-1926)."
Suyan shook his head, slowly explaining, "Although it is the island nation, it's not the one we know. Even though, on the surface, the development of human history doesn't seem any different from what we know."
"Only on the surface?" Takagi Yuriko keenly picked up on the implication in Suyan's words.
"Correct."
Suyan nodded and continued, "This world is equally unsafe. Even though it lacks those mindless zombies acting entirely on instinct... On the surface, everything seems perfectly normal, but in the shadows, there are two opposing factions that have been entangled for over a thousand years."
"One side is the demon faction, led by the Demon King Kibutsuji Muzan, who has lived from a millennium ago up to the present."
"Lived for over a thousand years?"
Hearing this, the girls couldn't help but gape in shock.
Even the lazy, beautiful blonde resting on Suyan's lap couldn't help but shudder, opening her squinted eyes.
"Yes, over a thousand years."
Suyan wasn't surprised and provided the answer to the girls. "However, while these creatures known as demons can live for at least a millennium, they suffer from two major flaws: they die if exposed to sunlight, and they must feed on human flesh."
Even though Suyan greatly envied the prospect of effortlessly living for hundreds or thousands of years.
If he had a choice, he absolutely wouldn't want to become that kind of lifeform.
The sunlight weakness was manageable—after all, there were things like the Blue Spider Lily to overcome it.
But eating human flesh was a hard no.
Even if one could forcibly suppress the craving like the anime's heroine, Nezuko.
Suyan still couldn't tolerate the idea of harboring the desire to eat people.
Therefore, his primary goal in obtaining Muzan's blood was for experimentation.
Whether to create demons to acquire interesting Blood Demon Arts, or to improve his Transmutation ability, Undead Overture.
Only as an absolute last resort would he choose to use demon blood to extend his and the girls' lifespans.
So, this option would at most be kept as the final backup plan.
Suyan paused before continuing his explanation. "For a thousand years, in order to find a plant known as the Blue Spider Lily to rid himself of his sunlight weakness, the Demon King Muzan has continuously used his blood to transform humans into man-eating demons."
"In the process, the humans harmed by these demons slowly gathered together, forming an organization dedicated to seeking revenge against them: the Demon Slayer Corps."
"These two factions have been intertwined since a millennium ago up to this day."
"This is the dark underbelly of that world."
After speaking, Suyan quietly looked at the girls.
He waited for them to digest the information he had just shared.
Only then did Suyan turn to the thoughtful Minami Rika and asked, "Rika, have you considered going back to your old profession for a bit?"
"Old profession?" Minami Rika blinked her purple eyes, asking with piqued interest, "Let's hear it."
"Deep in some remote mountain in this new world lives a family surnamed Kamado. They pass down the Sun Breathing, created over four hundred years ago during the Sengoku Period by the strongest swordsman who nearly killed the Demon King Muzan."
Suyan said, "I'm quite interested in it. Could you help me track them down?"
As the most powerful swordsmanship in Demon Slayer, Sun Breathing naturally held a certain appeal to Suyan.
After all, he had heard a theory regarding the breathing styles in Demon Slayer, stating that the elemental effects generated during their execution were actually just anime visual effects.
Which meant this was likely a purely physical swordsmanship technique.
Yet, the protagonist, Tanjiro, after learning Water Breathing, managed to cleanly slice a boulder larger than himself in half with a katana.
For an ordinary person, this was undoubtedly an incredible feat.
Of course, the more important target was the Demon King Kibutsuji Muzan. If Suyan remembered correctly, the tragedy of the Kamado family was personally orchestrated by Muzan, and Nezuko was transformed into a demon by him.
In other words, as long as he found the Kamado family ahead of time and waited patiently, he could locate Muzan as quickly as possible.
"Just tell me everything you know. You can't expect me to look for a needle in a haystack like a headless fly, right?" Minami Rika shook her head, giving him an 'I can't do anything with you' look.
Seeing Minami Rika agree, Suyan decisively shared all the information he knew about the Kamado family with her.
Then, he turned his head to look at Busujima Saeko. "Under the Demon King Muzan, there is a swordsman who has lived for over four hundred years. He is the older brother of that strongest swordsman from the Sengoku Period who nearly killed Muzan."
"I imagine you'd be interested in such an opponent, Saeko?"
"Oh?" Busujima Saeko paused.
Soon after, a fiery fighting spirit erupted in her eyes.
A swordsman who had honed his skills for over four hundred years?
That should serve as an excellent whetstone, shouldn't it?
Busujima Saeko said with burning eyes, "Please, by all means, let me fight him."
"Naturally," Suyan replied as a matter of course.
Aside from Minami Rika and Busujima Saeko, he hadn't made arrangements for anyone else, so he was done assigning tasks.
Next up was the highly anticipated activity segment.
So, the question was, which female hero would challenge the Demon Lord Suyan tonight?
Or perhaps?
All of them?
─────
Support this fanfict by leaving Positive Review, Comments, and Power Stones.
For Advance Chapters:
> Patreon.com/NegativeTranslations