Chapter Thirty-Five: The Young Emperor of the Tsugikuni Clan!
『 RYON 』
Enjoy~~~
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Seven years passed in the blink of an eye, and Ron could not help but try to change the fate of this world, even if it was only a simulation.
At the Tsugikuni clan estate, Ren's room.
Golden sunlight slipped through the gaps of the paper windows (shoji), gently touching the face of a boy buried beneath luxurious silk blankets.
Seven years had passed. In the human world, seven years might only slightly change one's features, but for "Ron," these years were nothing less than a reshaping of history itself.
Now, "Tsugikuni Ren" (Ron) was ten years old, while the twins of sun and moon, Yoriichi and Michikatsu, were twelve.
"Young master… young master Ren? It's time to wake up."
A soft, shy voice pulled Ron from his dreams, which were a chaotic mix of modern Tokyo memories and ancient rice fields. Ron slowly opened his eyes, revealing emerald pupils that looked like rare jewels set within thick black lashes.
The young maid, Haru, stood beside him holding a washbasin, her face full of admiration as she looked at him.
"Good morning, Haru…" Ron muttered in a sleepy voice as he lazily sat up. His long hair, which reached down his back, fell over his shoulders. It was pitch black like a starless sky, but its tips glowed with a faint crimson hue—just like his brother Yoriichi's hair.
"G–Good morning, young master!" the maid stammered, struggling not to stare at his angelic face. "I'll help you change your clothes!"
As she dressed him in the black kimono embroidered with the clan's crest, Haru could not stop herself from sighing in admiration.
"You grow more beautiful every day, young master… your skin is purer than porcelain! Ah, if only I were ten years younger…"
Ron glanced at her with half-lidded eyes—dead fish eyes. "Haru, I can hear you. And you're only fifteen. Don't talk like you're old."
"Oh! I'm sorry!" the maid laughed nervously, then suddenly lunged forward and hugged him with excessive affection. "You're just too cute! Can I pinch your cheeks just once?"
"'Just once'? Isn't that what you say every day before starting that torture…" Ron complained.
"Come on, young master… I'm just playing with you. How can you call that torture?" Haru said, puffing out her cheeks.
"Yes, yes… hurry up. I'm hungry," Ron said grumpily.
Ron sighed and let her fix his collar, thinking to himself in boredom, "Rina… are you sure I didn't accidentally put points into 'Charm' or 'Magic'? This is getting ridiculous. Even the neighborhood cats are chasing me."
[Answer: Your stats are normal. The problem lies in your genes. The result is a weapon of mass destruction for female hearts… deal with it.]
"Thanks for nothing…"
Ron left the room after gently escaping Haru's "affection assault" and walked through the long wooden corridors of the estate. The air was clean, and the steady sound of the shishi-odoshi (the bamboo tube striking stone in the garden) echoed soothingly.
In the opposite corridor, he saw a familiar figure walking with monk-like calm.
It was Yoriichi.
At twelve years old, Yoriichi looked like an adult trapped in a child's body. Calm, composed, with eyes that reflected a comforting emptiness. His personal attendant walked silently behind him, intimidated by his presence.
"Ni-sama!"
Ron broke the silence and rushed toward Yoriichi with a heart-melting smile, jumping up to hug him tightly.
Yoriichi stopped and slowly turned around. At first glance, a stranger might think he was annoyed, but Ron knew his brother well. That slight relaxation of his jaw muscles, that faint glimmer in his eyes… Yoriichi was happy.
"Ren…" Yoriichi said calmly, patting his younger brother's head. "Good morning."
"Good morning, big brother!" Ron pulled back slightly, grabbed Yoriichi's hand, and gently tugged him toward the dining hall. "Did you sleep well? Did you have a nice dream? I'm really hungry— I hope there's grilled fish!"
Ron chatted cheerfully, perfectly playing the role of the "cute little brother." But inside, his mind was running like a computer.
"Template synchronization: 87%."
Ron thought as he looked at Yoriichi's back. "Just staying by his side and interacting with him daily has made the system absorb Yoriichi's essence at a terrifying speed. A few more years, and I'll complete the template at 100% before I even turn seventeen. Then I'll be able to merge cursed energy with Sun Breathing… and create something this world has never seen."
Ron tightened his grip on his brother's hand. "And I'll protect him too. I won't let this calm face ever cry blood in the future."
…
A few minutes later, in the main dining hall.
The Tsugikuni family sat around the low table in solemn silence, waiting for the father's signal to begin.
The father, Tsugikuni Kazuma, the clan head, sat at the front, his expression a mixture of pride and fear—fear of the monsters he had brought into the world.
To his right sat the mother, Aki. Her health was excellent, her cheeks rosy, thanks to the "medicine" Ron had purchased from the system years ago. She smiled warmly as she looked at her three sons.
To his left sat Michikatsu and Yoriichi, while Ren sat beside his mother, Aki.
"Begin eating," the father said in a deep voice.
As they silently ate miso soup and rice, thoughts churned in Michikatsu's mind.
He looked at Yoriichi, then at Ron. His gaze was not one of "hatred," as in the original story, but one of "competition."
Michikatsu recalled what had happened three years earlier.
That day, Ron had challenged their father to a training match. Ron's condition had been insane: "If I win, I will manage the clan's financial and political affairs."
The father had laughed. But the match ended in a single second. Ron used "Storm Breathing: Absolute Speed!" and placed a wooden sword at his father's neck before the guards could even blink.
From that day on, everything changed.
"This boy, Ren…" Kazuma thought as he looked at his youngest son, who was elegantly eating fish. "He's not just a samurai… he's a genius."
Under Ron's management—at only ten years old—the Tsugikuni clan transformed into the greatest samurai clan.
He directed workers to excavate near "Mount Yoko," close to the sun, and extracted a strange metal that Ron named "Nichirin."
Then, in a mysterious way, he contacted the Ubuyashiki clan—the leaders of the Demon Slayer Corps—and struck a massive trade deal: supplying the corps with advanced Nichirin swords and their manufacturing method in exchange for enormous wealth.
The clan became the richest in the region—and the most feared.
"Michikatsu-ni," Ron suddenly called, cutting through his brother's thoughts. "Your new sword… does its weight suit you? I asked the blacksmith to adjust the hilt balance to match your 'Moon Breathing.'"
Michikatsu stopped eating and looked at Ron with hidden gratitude. "Yes… it's perfect. Thank you, Ren."
Ron smiled. "That's good! Moon Breathing is a complex and beautiful technique, no less magnificent than Yoriichi-ni's Sun Breathing. You two complete each other… sun and moon."
This was Ron's brilliant strategy. Instead of letting Michikatsu try—and fail—to imitate Yoriichi (which would breed resentment), Ron guided him from the beginning to create his own path.
"You can't be the sun, brother," Ron had once told him. "Why burn yourself trying? Be the moon… the moon that rules the night with terrifying beauty."
Those words saved Michikatsu's soul.
"Ren," Aki spoke gently. "Are you going to train again today? Don't overwork yourselves."
"Don't worry, Mom!" Ron replied with a bright smile. "We're just playing with swords a little. Right, Ni-chan?"
Yoriichi nodded silently, his mouth full of rice.
…
After the meal, in the back garden of the Tsugikuni estate.
As Yoriichi and Michikatsu walked away to begin warming up, Ron sat on the veranda, gazing at the clear blue sky.
His childish smile gradually faded, replaced by a cold, serious expression—the look of someone who had lived multiple lives.
"This life…" Ron whispered to himself. "It's too real."
He felt the breeze, the scent of the soil, the warmth from Yoriichi's body when he hugged him. The emotions he felt for Aki, and the respect growing toward his brothers.
"Rina…" he called in his mind.
[Yes, Host.]
"I… I'm confused. Is this really just a simulation? Are these people just data? Because… I feel like I don't want to leave this place. I genuinely want to kill Muzan and end this nightmare forever."
Rina fell silent for a moment, then a transparent blue window appeared before his eyes.
[Explanation: This is not an illusion. The 'simulation' technique you are using is not virtual reality, but a transfer of your consciousness to a completely real 'parallel timeline.' This is another, separate dimension.]
Ron's eyes widened. "Another dimension?"
[Yes. Everything you do here is real. The people are real. The emotions are real. And changing history here will not negatively affect your original world or the original story there. So do not worry…]
Ron's body relaxed, and a ferocious, hungry, confident smile appeared on his face.
"Really? Then… there's no need to hold back."
He stood up and drew his training sword. A terrifying green aura began to seep from his body, mixed with the scorching heat of the sun.
"If this is a real, separate world…" Ron said, his emerald eyes shining with a dreadful gleam.
"Then I will make this era a golden age. I will kill Muzan, let my family live in peace… and turn the Tsugikuni clan into an undying legend."
He looked toward his two brothers, who were exchanging blows in the training yard.
"Yoriichi. Michikatsu. And me—Tsugikuni Ren."
"Three monsters against the Demon King… I'll bet all my money that Muzan will cry like a child very soon."
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End of Chapter Thirty-Five.