Chapter Sixty-Four: Death Is Kinder Than Marriage!
Enjoy~~~
The wind toyed with the edges of the black haori Ren was wearing as he walked with slow steps toward the Tsugikuni family mansion, like a prisoner willingly walking toward the guillotine.
"Days…" Ren muttered, kicking a small pebble in front of him in irritation. "Three whole days have passed, and none of those idiots even caught a glimpse of me! Do Yoriichi and Michikatsu have eyes just for decoration? Didn't Yoriichi say he could see inside living beings? How did he fail to see his own brother hiding?"
[Maybe because, oh genius of your era, you decided to hide in the one place no sane person would ever search for the 'new Demon King.']
Rena's mechanical, mocking voice echoed in his head.
Ren stopped and placed a hand on his chin, recalling the past few days.
"Oh, you mean the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters? Yes, that was a brilliant idea."
His memory drifted back a little. After leaving Tamayo in the forest, he headed straight to the Ubuyashiki headquarters. It was nighttime, and the guards were asleep (well, Ren had knocked them unconscious). Ren entered the current Corps leader's room through the window like a stray cat.
The leader, a wise man whose body was being devoured by the curse, was sitting and reading reports. He did not scream when he saw Ren; he simply looked at him calmly.
"Muzan is dead," Ren had said at the time, tossing a small glass vial containing a glowing blue liquid (medicine from the system) onto the leader's desk.
"This will cure your family's curse. If it doesn't disappear with his death, this medicine will handle it."
The leader looked at the vial, then at Ren. "Tsugikuni Ren… is it truly over?"
"It's over," Ren replied, then turned toward the window, giving the leader his back, trying to assume the role of a tragic hero sacrificing himself. His voice grew deep and sorrowful. "Don't thank me. I only did my duty. But… I regret that I won't be able to fulfill my promise and marry your daughter. My life… is very short, and I don't want to leave a young widow behind. Death is calling me, and—"
"Stop this nonsense."
The leader interrupted him seriously as he slipped the vial into his pocket. "If you don't show up at the engagement ceremony in two days, I will send my daughter 'Kyoka' herself to drag you by your hair to the hall. She is very skilled with the naginata (spear), and you know that."
Ren froze in place, his dramatic image shattering. He turned with a stiff smile. "You're joking, right? I'm talking about death and sacrifice here!"
"And I am talking about a grandson I want to see before I die," the leader replied coolly as he returned to his papers. "Get out, and close the window behind you. Drafts make my joints ache."
"Damn you, old man, you're just afraid of your daughter…" Ren said angrily, which made the leader laugh. "My old body can't handle her anger… your strong body is suitable for that."
"..."
Ren had laughed sarcastically at the time and shaken his head before disappearing into the darkness, realizing that escaping from his "wife" was harder than killing the Demon King.
"Sigh…" Ren returned to reality as he stood before the massive gate of his family's mansion. "Alright, death is kinder than my mother's anger, but marriage is kinder than death… I think."
"Well, a little drama before that won't hurt…"
He pushed the main door open and entered.
…
In one of the luxurious guest rooms inside the mansion.
Tamayo was sitting on the edge of a pure white bed, still unable to believe that she was "human" and sitting in the mansion of "Demon Slayers."
In front of her, "Haru," Ren's personal maid, was sitting on the floor folding clothes with excessive enthusiasm, her eyes sparkling as she spoke nonstop.
"Did you know, milady? When young master Ren was seven, he tried to cook fish by himself and burned down the kitchen! Yet he stood in the middle of the smoke and said, 'This isn't a fire, this is flame breathing!'… Ah, he's so wonderful and adorable!"
Tamayo smiled silently. Haru was speaking about Ren as if he were the center of the universe. But Tamayo's thoughts were elsewhere.
"Haru-san," Tamayo interrupted gently. "Why did Lords Yoriichi and Michikatsu return alone? Didn't they go to bring Ren back?"
Haru's hands suddenly stopped. The bright smile vanished, replaced by genuine horror. She glanced right and left as if the walls had ears, then leaned toward Tamayo and whispered in a trembling voice:
"Shhh! Don't raise your voice! The situation is catastrophic!"
Haru swallowed and continued. "They came back… empty-handed. They found no trace of Master Ren. And right now… they're in the 'meeting room' with Lady Aki."
Tamayo shuddered. "Lady Aki…"
She remembered her first meeting with Ren's mother. That woman who seemed like the embodiment of calm and aristocratic beauty, with her long black hair and features Ren had inherited. She looked like any noble lady—until she opened her mouth.
"You're a former demon?" Aki had asked with a very gentle smile that was terrifying. "That's fine. Ren likes strange things. Would you accept being the second wife? Or would you prefer to be a secret mistress? It doesn't matter, as long as you stay here. Are you in a romantic relationship with Ren?"
"That woman…" Tamayo thought, feeling chills. "She doesn't care about the laws of humans or demons. She only cares about seeing her grandchildren. In some ways, she's more frightening than Muzan."
Why do all parents want to see grandchildren this badly… damn it.
"Poor them…" Haru whispered, clasping her hands in prayer. "I hope they come out of that meeting alive."
…
In the main hall of the mansion.
The atmosphere was so cold that vapor escaped from the mouths of those present, even though it was spring.
"Yoriichi Tsugikuni," the strongest swordsman in history, the man who made the Demon King tremble in fear, sat with his head lowered, staring intensely at the tatami mat as if trying to count its threads.
Beside him sat "Michikatsu," the current clan leader and commander of the Shadow Corps (the Demon Slayer Corps of the Tsugikuni clan), sweat pouring from his forehead, his hands trembling slightly over his knees.
In front of them stood "Aki."
She was not shouting. She was not holding a weapon. She was simply standing there, holding a closed paper fan, looking at them with half-lidded eyes.
"So…" Aki said in a soft, calm voice that carried a sharpness like a blade of ice. "You are telling me… that you, the greatest swordsmen in Japan, who can sever a demon's head from a mile away… could not find your younger brother who ran away from home?"
"Mother," Michikatsu tried to speak, but his voice came out hoarse. "Ren… he is not an ordinary child. He possesses abilities… concealment… and—"
"Silence."
Aki snapped the fan shut with a light "tak," but it echoed like an explosion in the hall.
"I do not want excuses," she said, walking slowly around them. "I have prepared everything. The invitations were sent. The bride and her family are on their way. The flowers, the food, the priests… everything is ready. And the only missing thing is the 'groom.'"
She stopped behind Yoriichi and placed a hand on his shoulder. Yoriichi's body twitched slightly.
"Yoriichi, my dear son…" she whispered. "You possess that 'Transparent World,' don't you? You see everything? How did you not see your brother? Did you suddenly decide to go blind?"
"I…" Yoriichi stammered—he who rarely stammered. "His presence… vanished. As if he were no longer in this world."
"Then search the other world!" she snapped. "Go now! And do not return unless he is with you, tied with ropes if necessary! Do you understand?!"
"Y-Yes!" both of them shouted together, preparing to leap up and flee this terrifying pressure.
But at that decisive moment—
"Creeeak…"
The sliding door slowly opened, producing an irritating creak that cut through the room's tension.
All three gazes turned toward the door.
A pale hand appeared. Then black hair. Then a face wearing an extremely tense and trembling smile.
Ren stood at the doorway, raising his right hand in a shy greeting, sweat pouring down as if he had been running for a hundred years.
"Yooo…" Ren said in a shaky voice. "I've… returned?"
Silence fell.
Michikatsu stared at him with wide, dead-fish eyes, as if saying, "Why did you come back now? Why didn't you run away forever and save us?"
Yoriichi looked at him with relief mixed with terror: "Finally… we survived."
As for Aki…
Her cold face slowly changed. The corners of her lips lifted into a bright "motherly" smile, but her eyes remained dark.
"Oh, Ren…" she said in a very gentle voice. "Welcome back, my dear."
She walked toward him with steady steps.
"I was very worried about you… I was afraid you might be late for your wedding."
Ren took a step back, feeling that facing Muzan had been a stroll in the park compared to this.
"Mother… listen… I can explain…" Ren began to stammer.
"No need to explain," Aki said, grabbing his collar and pulling him inside with a strength that did not match her delicate appearance. "We have many outfits to try, and many apologies to rehearse. And you two…"
She looked at Yoriichi and Michikatsu. "Close the door. Don't let him escape."
Ren looked at his brothers with pleading eyes. "You traitors!"
Michikatsu slowly closed the door while whispering, "Sorry, brother… it's a matter of survival."
And so, the new Demon King, who defeated Muzan and terrified demons for years, realized that there is a force in this universe that cannot be defeated: "a mother who wants to see her grandchildren."
—
End of Chapter 64.