Time had already passed since the Kocho sisters became part of the Akatsuki Trading Company family.
The sisters' daily life was simple but hard. They ate nutritious meals prepared by Kiyohime, learned swordsmanship from Okita and Ushiwakamaru in the morning, and studied pharmacology basics and modern knowledge from Tamamo in the afternoon.
One clear afternoon, the sisters' training was in full swing in the training hall.
"Lower! Your lower body isn't engaged!"
Okita Souji's strict yet polite voice echoed. Shinobu staggered while swinging a wooden sword as tall as herself, and Kanae too was panting and pouring sweat like rain.
"Now now, that's enough for today! Pushing too hard has the opposite effect, you know."
Ushiwakamaru declared a break by clapping her hands. The sisters slumped on the spot, gasping for rough breaths. Ushiwakamaru smiled brightly and handed over a kettle filled with cool water.
"Is it difficult? The path to becoming a warrior is long and arduous, you know. When I trained with my teacher on Mount Kurama as a child, I thought I'd die at first. Though~ it eventually became like play!"
She sat on the wooden sword rack, crossed her legs, and began an old tale.
"Back then, Benkei, that big guy, was blocking the way on the Gojo Bridge, swinging his naginata. Bragging about being the strongest, so I hopped around on the railings and teased him. I parried all those crude sword strikes with just one fan, and when I gave him a tok! on the head, he said he'd become my subordinate. Hahaha!"
As Ushiwakamaru excitedly told her heroic tale, Kanae's eyes widened as she drank water.
"Gojo Bridge... Benkei...? Um, teacher. That story by any chance..."
Kanae looked at Ushiwakamaru with a trembling voice. That famous name even appearing in nursery rhymes. The childhood name of Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Ushiwakamaru.
"Huh? By any chance, are you that Ushiwakamaru-sama? The one from the nursery rhyme?"
Shinobu also asked in surprise. Though Akira-san had introduced them as heroic spirits, to think they'd be that great figure from history.
"Huh? Ah, yes. I am that Ushiwakamaru. A descendant of the Genji, also called Yoshitsune."
When Ushiwakamaru answered nonchalantly in polite speech, the sisters couldn't close their mouths. A legendary hero from hundreds of years ago was teaching them swordsmanship right before their eyes.
"My goodness... you really were a hero."
At Kanae's respectful gaze, Ushiwakamaru rubbed her nose as if embarrassed. Then Okita, who had been listening beside them, stepped forward with a cough.
"Ahem! I'm quite famous too, you know? Shinsengumi 1st Division Captain, genius swordsman Okita Souji! You've heard of me, right? In Kyoto, even children know the name!"
Okita puffed out her chest and declared proudly. But the sisters' reaction was微妙. Kanae smiled awkwardly, and Shinobu sent openly suspicious glances.
"Huh? Okita Souji... that Shinsengumi's?"
"Yes! That's me!"
"But... Okita Souji was a man, right? I've seen a portrait... Sorry, but you look completely different from the teacher."
At Shinobu's words hitting the mark, Okita collapsed going "Guh!" as if spitting blood.
"That's too mean! It's really me! It's just that the worldview is different! The portrait just painted someone who looks similar! There was no painter who could capture my beauty, so they drew it roughly!"
"Ah, yes... Well, I'll go with that."
At Shinobu's soulless reply, Okita rolled on the floor, feeling wronged.
Watching that, Kanae burst out laughing. At their too human and cheerful appearance for legendary heroes, the wariness in the sisters' hearts was breaking down a little more.
While the sisters devoted themselves to training, I was immersed in new business plans in the trading company's office.
Outside the window, the 1905 Tokyo streets were visible. Victory prayer lanterns hung here and there on the streets, but the Russo-Japanese War hadn't ended yet.
Victory reports were coming in, but it was still over a month until complete ceasefire.
As the war dragged on, supplies became scarce, and commoners' lives were tough. But crisis is opportunity. I muttered while folding the newspaper on the desk.
"Now's the chance."
I aimed to develop a product taking advantage of this opportunity. Namely, curry.
Currently, curry was being sold at exorbitant prices with the perception of being Western cuisine. Food you could only taste at high-class restaurants like Seiyoken, with prices reaching 5 to 10 times that of soba noodles, the national food.
"Tamamo, Kiyohime. Come here a moment?"
At my call, the two women entered the office.
"Did you call, Master? What fun thing are you planning today?"
Tamamo approached, wagging her tail. I unfolded the plan I'd written beforehand on the desk.
"Curry. We're going to popularize this."
"Oh my? Curry... that curry?"
"Right. In this era's Japan, it's too expensive to eat, and soldiers eat it to prevent beriberi. What if we make it so anyone can eat it easily and cheaply? Making instant curry you just pour over rice, like the ramen we made."
Still 1905. You'd have to wait decades more for solid curry or curry powder, and retort pouch technology would take half a century more. But we had the heroic spirits' mysteries and modern knowledge.
"Is it possible? With your cooking skills and magecraft."
At my question, Tamamo confidently snapped open her fan.
"Of course! That taste we ate with Master, no, I can recreate it even more splendidly. Modern retort technology? With my preservation magecraft and concentration techniques, I can implement it much more perfectly. I'll show you a sauce that can store flavor and aroma intact for a year easily."
"Leave heat control and spice blending to me. By combining numerous recipes from modern memories, I'll create a savory curry that will drive this era's Japanese people crazy. If Master wants to eat it, I'll boil it even with hellfire. How spicy should it be? Really fiery?"
Kiyohime also burned with enthusiasm. Since they had knowledge of modern civilization installed, no explanation was needed. Rather, they seemed poised to come up with better ideas than my explanation.
From that day, the trading company's underground workshop was filled with spice smells.
We first blended various spices to create curry powder perfectly suited to Japanese tastes. Turmeric, cumin, coriander... The heroic spirits' sensitive palates and modern recipe knowledge found a golden ratio nonexistent in this era.
Next was implementing retort. Since it was an era without vinyl or aluminum pouches, we decided to use specially treated oilpaper and thin tin cans.
"Mix roux sautéed with flour and butter here, simmer meat and vegetables thoroughly... then fix time with magecraft."
As Tamamo formed complex hand seals over the pot, the thick golden liquid was sucked into the cans.
"Completion! Named Akatsuki Special Instant Curry!"
Tasting the prototype, I couldn't help but admire. A deep, rich taste on a different dimension from modern 3-minute curry. This was art.
Ah, of course I haven't tasted it myself. I'm an oni. Kiyohime tasted it, and I read Kiyohime's memory.
Well, I could taste it through Kiyohime's body. But then I'd probably ruminate on the misery of not being able to eat food myself. Just reading the memory, yes. Understanding what this feeling is like only in my head.
At least it's tastier than the curries in my memory. Well, I'm not sure if this memory is accurate either. Might be a whole new world since I only eat human flesh?
Anyway, we immediately began sales at the Tokyo Ginza main store.
[Military vitality! High-class Western cuisine! Now enjoy at home! Akatsuki Instant Curry (just heat and done!) Only 5 sen! Akatsuki Golden Curry Powder (feeds the whole family!) Only 2 sen!]
The banner hung in front of the store was enough to capture Tokyo citizens' eyes.
That high-class curry you had to pay at least 10 sen to eat at restaurants could now be eaten at home for only 5 sen if you had rice.
Even curry powder to boil yourself was only 2 sen. For the price of one bowl of soba noodles, it was enough for the whole family to sit around and eat until full.
"This is really delicious! Much richer than what I ate at restaurants!"
"I bought the powder, added vegetables and boiled it, and a whole pot came out? Tonight's dinner is definitely this!"
The response was literally explosive. Long lines formed on Ginza streets even before opening, and prepared stock ran out by morning. This is the taste of modern MSG. The first MSG hasn't even been made yet, and commercialization will take several more years.
It was the second huge hit following ramen. Especially curry powder gained explosive popularity among commoners with light pockets.
Profits multiplied exponentially.
I reinvested that money without holding back. Imported hammer mills (crushers) from the West to grind curry powder in bulk, and built a production line introducing semi-automatic packaging machine dolls devised by Tamamo that moved by clockwork.
Though she specializes in magecraft, through exchanges with the blacksmith Katakuri or its creator Kashin, she says she can create such things by incorporating magecraft. Of course, we purchase the doll frames from a doll manufacturing company and modify them for use.
"Master, money is piling up in the warehouse to the point there's no space to walk. Should we build another villa in Kyoto or Tokyo with this money?"
Listening to Kiyohime's happy scream of a report, I smiled contentedly. This enormous financial power would become a powerful weapon in the future war against oni, and in supporting the Kocho sisters.
Let's make solid curry later too.
As business got on track, I occasionally hunted oni and grew stronger. Then one night, Nobunaga, who hadn't been seen for days, returned to the mansion.
Crash!
The window opened roughly as a red cloak fluttered. Along with the night wind, a bloody smell assaulted.
"Uahaha! Master! The Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, Nobunaga-sama, has returned! Picked up a very interesting present on the way!"
Nobunaga had something slung over her shoulder like a rice sack. When she tossed the bundle to the floor with a thud, a woman in black uniform groaned and rolled out.
"Ugh..."
I put down the blood teacup I was drinking and examined the woman collapsed on the floor. The character for 'Destroy' engraved on her back. And the Nichirin Blade at her waist.
"Demon Slayer Corps?"
"Correct! Didn't you tell me to fetch someone who uses Breathing? Found her fighting an oni while patrolling that northern mountain area, so captured her right away. If left, she would've become oni food."
Nobunaga boasted, snorting.
"Huh, didn't think you'd find one this fast."
"Just praise me!"
I examined the collapsed member carefully. A woman who looked around late teens. Definitely older than Kanae. Though her breathing was rough, the energy felt within it was clear. Soft yet sharp, a flowery spirit.
"This feeling... is it Flower Breathing?"
"Hooh, Master's perception is quick as expected. Correct. When she swung her sword, petal-like effects fluttered. Quite pretty. Looked usable."
Flower Breathing. The Breathing derived from Water Breathing, the very technique Kanae and Shinobu needed to learn.
The female member was unconscious, but injuries from an oni were evident all over her body. Had Nobbu not intervened, she clearly would have lost her life tonight.
Looking at the woman collapsed on the floor, I smiled at the corner of my mouth. That smile was satisfaction at obtaining what I wanted, but simultaneously a strange emotion about this woman's reversed fate.
She's hit the jackpot.
The hell called Demon Slayer Corps. A place where you die miserable deaths under the guise of honorable death, or must live a lifetime in trauma.
Had Nobbu not kidnapped her, she would have been digested in an oni's stomach tonight. Even if she survived, she was fated to meet a miserable end someday.
But now it's different. Tonight she escaped that bondage and came to a place with guaranteed warm meals and safe beds.
Though her memories would be manipulated, is that truly misfortune? A life not chased by oni, a life treated humanely. She had essentially drawn a life-reversal ticket.
"...Really a lucky one."
I muttered softly. Though she was human, to me she was now a precious textbook and an employee gifted with happiness.
"Tamamo."
"Yes, Master."
Tamamo-no-Mae appeared silently from the shadows. I pointed at the woman with my chin.
"This woman, erase her memories of the Demon Slayer Corps and implant loyalty to our trading company. Name her... yes, call her Tsubaki (Camellia). Have her forget the past, and from now live as the Kocho sisters' swordsmanship teacher and our trading company's guard warrior. Make her believe she has worked here happily her whole life."
"Mikon! Understood. I'll make her dream a very sweet and happy dream. When she awakens, she'll believe she has lived solely for the Akatsuki Trading Company. Reconstructing memories with magecraft is easy."
Tamamo took out a talisman and attached it to the woman's forehead. A golden halo seeped into the woman's head. The woman's furrowed brow gradually smoothed, changing to a comfortable expression.
"Ubume."
"You called, Master."
The room door opened and attendant Ubume entered, bowing her head. She had now become a faithful servant perfectly obedient to me.
"Wash this woman and treat her wounds. And immediately throw that hideous Demon Slayer Corps uniform into the furnace and burn it. Dress her in our trading company employee改良 kimono and lay her in the guest room."
"As you command."
Ubume lightly picked up the unconscious woman and carried her out. Watching her retreating back, I soaked in strange emotions.
One Demon Slayer Corps member disappeared. Nobbu must have dealt with the crow, so headquarters would record her as having died in the line of duty.
Thus she was reborn from a tool dying while protecting people, to a human who could live humanly.
"Now, with this I've secured a teacher to teach Breathing to Kanae and Shinobu too."
I rose from my seat and approached the window. Ginza's night streets were still bright. Financial power, military power, and now technique too. All puzzle pieces were fitting together.
"Good work, Nobbu. As reward, I'll get you that newest model machine gun you wanted through back channels tomorrow."
"Ooh! Really?! Master really is generous! Love you! Have to test fire it tomorrow immediately!"
Nobunaga cheered and rushed to hug me. I chuckled and accepted her.
Money, influence, and now power (Breathing) too.
In the summer of 1905, in Tokyo where the Russo-Japanese War's end approached, my empire was silently, but enormously, expanding its size.