After packing his gear, Luochuan headed out to meet Zenitsu and Tanjiro. Zenitsu was currently pestering Tanjiro, insisting on carrying Nezuko's box. Tanjiro looked deeply conflicted; although they were both members of the Demon Slayer Corps, he didn't know Zenitsu well. He simply didn't feel safe handing Nezuko over to him.
Trapped, Tanjiro shot a pleading look at Luochuan for help.
Thump!
Luochuan was decisive, landing a direct punch on Zenitsu's head.
"Luochuan! What was that for?!" Zenitsu cried out, clutching his head and grimacing. Previously, when they arm-wrestled, Luochuan's strength was never much greater than his own, so a punch wouldn't have mattered. But now, Luochuan's grip and power were absurd; that punch felt like being struck by a sledgehammer.
"Girls don't like guys who are stalkerish and clingy," Luochuan said calmly.
Zenitsu's complaining expression froze, and he immediately stood up straight and proper. Hidden behind Tanjiro, Nezuko peered silently at Luochuan.
> [Detected: Intimacy with Tanjiro Kamado has increased to "Friend." Random reward obtained.]
> [Gained Skill: Water Breathing, First Form—Water Surface Slash (Proficient)]
> [Fuse now? No.]
>
Luochuan glanced at Tanjiro in surprise. So we're officially friends now? It seemed increasing intimacy wasn't as difficult as he thought. He wondered if he should capture a few demons with Blood Demon Arts and try to "raise" their intimacy levels to get better rewards.
However, he quickly dismissed the idea as unrealistic. His intimacy with Tanjiro grew quickly because of Tanjiro's naturally kind personality and the fact that Luochuan had helped him out of a jam. To do that with a demon would be nearly impossible—they wanted to eat him every second of the day. He could suppress their actions with strength, but he couldn't force them to like him. Under those circumstances, "Acquaintance" rewards remained the most cost-effective.
At dawn, just as the trio set off, a Kasugai Crow shrieked as it flew toward them. "South-southeast! South-southeast! The next mission location is south-southeast! Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Luochuan will execute it together!"
The crow flapped its wings, shouting in front of them. The sparrow on Zenitsu's head hopped up and down as if receiving orders. Seeing this, Zenitsu sighed. The others had crows that spoke human language; his sparrow only "chirped," and he couldn't understand a word of it.
The Drum House wasn't far from Asakusa. After about an hour's journey, Luochuan caught the distinct scent of a demon. Beside him, Tanjiro clearly smelled it too, his expression darkening.
"Zenitsu, speed up. We're almost there," Luochuan reminded him, picking up the pace. Zenitsu hesitated for a second; while he wasn't as terrified of demons as he was at the start, he was still undeniably nervous.
Tanjiro looked at Luochuan with a hint of surprise. Mr. Luochuan knows there's a demon ahead? I have a naturally sharp nose, but what does he rely on?
Following the scent, they arrived at a large estate. In the woods nearby, two children were shivering in fear. Luochuan pointed them out to Tanjiro. As Tanjiro approached the children, Luochuan turned his gaze to the mansion. The doors and windows were tightly shut, making it look like an airtight model.
Luochuan sniffed. The scents of humans and demons were mixed inside. Strangely, the specific stench of the demon didn't seem particularly intense. To Luochuan, the strength of the smell was the metric for a demon's power. Based on what he smelled now, he realized he might have overestimated the Drum Demon, Kyogai.
Luochuan slid the door open and stepped inside. It was pitch black. He twitched his nose; no demons were in the immediate vicinity. Behind him, the door slid shut automatically.
The sound of the door closing startled Tanjiro and Zenitsu, who had been focused on the siblings. They turned to see the shut door and realize Luochuan had vanished.
"Mr. Luochuan went in?"
Tanjiro couldn't sit still. According to the children's description, there were one or more demons inside who had eaten many people. Even if Mr. Luochuan was strong, entering alone was dangerous. He had to help.
Tanjiro looked at Zenitsu. From their brief contact, he knew Zenitsu had a strong aura but was incredibly cowardly. Perhaps he could ask Zenitsu to stay behind?
"Zenitsu, I'm going in to help Mr. Luochuan. Please watch over Nezuko's box; she is very important to me." Tanjiro spoke quickly. He assumed the cowardly Zenitsu, who couldn't even use a Breathing Style when scared, would jump at the chance.
"No, I'm going in too," Zenitsu replied, shaking his head. His eyes held a look of urgency as he stared at the mansion.
Tanjiro was surprised. Zenitsu wants to go in even though he knows there are demons? This was different from how he had acted on the road. Regardless, Tanjiro didn't overthink it. He entrusted the box to the siblings and entered the mansion with Zenitsu.
Luochuan moved through the house, following the scent of rot. His primary goal was adding Kyogai to his friend list, followed by Inosuke. Neither should be too difficult. If Kyogai didn't agree, he'd beat him within an inch of his life. As for Inosuke, the boy grew up in the mountains and followed the law of the jungle; as long as Luochuan proved his strength, gaining his recognition would be easy.
As he contemplated his targets, a soft thump of a drum echoed near his ear.
Luochuan kicked off a wall and landed gracefully. He frowned. Again. This was the third time he'd heard the drum. Every time it sounded, his position in the house changed, shifting him away from the "Lower Moon" Kyogai.
Tanjiro and the others had likely just entered, so they shouldn't have reached Kyogai yet. That meant the drum wasn't Kyogai's doing. It was the "Marechi" child, Kiyoshi, who had possession of a drum and was likely in danger again.
Luochuan felt a headache coming on. He wasn't afraid of fighting Kyogai; he just didn't want the kid constantly shifting the rooms, preventing him from pinning the demon down.
"Hm?"
Luochuan looked up at the end of the corridor. A demon scent was approaching, but it wasn't strong. Compared to Kyogai's rot, this scent was much fainter. If he remembered correctly, there were three demons here: Kyogai, the Tongue Demon, and the Gluttonous Demon. They were fighting over the Marechi child. During the struggle, Kyogai had lost one of his drums, which Kiyoshi now used to survive.
Just as Luochuan finished his thought, a massive figure slowly emerged from the shadows. The demon was bloated with fat, with a short horn protruding from the center of its forehead. Its skin was covered in cracks, resembling shattered porcelain.