[Ding! Congratulations, Host, on obtaining 1 Nascent Soul Realm Pill (Gold)!]
[Nascent Soul Realm Pill: Allows the Host to directly reach the peak of the [Nascent Soul Realm] without any side effects.]
'Good heavens, I won the lottery! I thought it would take at least two years to reach the [Nascent Soul Realm] at my current cultivation speed.'
'I didn't expect to get a Realm Pill directly! System, I don't want to work hard anymore! Why don't you just give me a Grandmist Violet Qi so I can become a saint on the spot!'
[Host, if your luck is good enough, it's not impossible to obtain one. It's just the probability… o(*￣3￣)o]
For some reason, an image popped into Kaito's mind: a small figure, eyes squinting into the distance, hands behind its back, whistling.
'System, do you dare announce the actual probability so I know what I'm dealing with?!'
[Current Host check-in probability for Grandmist Violet Qi is 0.00000…]
Kaito stared at the panel, which couldn't even display all the zeroes, and immediately began to question his life choices.
'System, you just don't want me to get it. With a probability like this, I suspect even the Jade Emperor couldn't pull it off!'
[Host, please don't be anxious. Isn't it simply that the Host's realm is still too low? As the Host's realm continuously improves, the probability of checking in for better items will also gradually increase!]
[By the way: the Jade Emperor couldn't get it either!]
'Ugh… what you said makes so much sense, I can't even refute it. o((⊙﹏⊙))o'
Seeing that there was no hope of getting it now, Kaito stopped dwelling on the matter. If he kept at it, the tone of this story would go completely off the rails. This was a lighthearted adventure, not some grand primordial epic!
Stare…
Just as Kaito was being silently stared at by Kanao Tsuyuri to the point of doubting his own existence, Kanae Kocho's gentle voice finally reached his ears.
"Kaito-sama, I apologize for making you wait!"
Kaito looked toward the voice and saw Kanae Kocho, freshly showered and changed into clean clothes, placing her hands neatly on her abdomen and bowing slightly to him.
Kaito, who had always been a shut-in, had never been in the presence of such a beautiful girl. How to describe the young woman standing before him?
Flowery phrases like "bright eyes and white teeth, skin like congealed fat" felt, to Kaito, like one word: vulgar. Unbearably vulgar. The protagonist had his own perfectly adequate adjective for it:
"Wow!"
"Eh?! Kaito-sama, you are exaggerating!"
At Kaito's exclamation, a visible blush bloomed across Kanae Kocho's delicate face.
Even her earlobes turned red, though deep down, a strange sense of joy quietly arose.
"Ahem! Well… it is just that the contrast between how you look now and how you looked earlier is quite striking, ahahaha!"
Realising he had spoken his thoughts aloud, Kaito awkwardly tried to explain himself.
"Hmph! Nee-sama is naturally beautiful. You bad guy, your eyes are basically glued to her!"
Luckily, Shinobu Kocho, who had also changed clothes, cut in and broke the awkward atmosphere.
"Heh, even if my eyes were glued, they would be to your nee-sama. Still better than staring at a certain washboard. (▼⊿▼)"
Kaito glanced disdainfully at Shinobu Kocho's chest and said with complete indifference.
Hearing his contemptuous words, Shinobu Kocho quickly raised both hands to cover her chest, her face flushed red, and she whined to her sister:
"You hentai! Nee-sama, look at him!"
Kanae reached out and gently stroked Shinobu's head with a smile:
"Alright, Shinobu, Kaito-sama is only teasing you. Don't be angry!"
Watching the scene, Kaito couldn't help but think of Shinobu Kocho in the original story.
In the original, Shinobu had imitated her sister in everything, always maintaining a gentle smile on her face while her heart quietly burned with hatred for demons.
Now that he had saved Kanae Kocho, Shinobu would probably never need to walk down that path.
It was a little bittersweet, knowing he would never see the original Shinobu Kocho again. But Kaito still preferred this warm scene in front of him.
To borrow Rimuru's words: long live peace!
"Kanae-nee-san, breakfast is ready!"
Kanzaki Aoi came in from the kitchen to let everyone know it was time to eat. Everyone got up and took their seats at the dining table.
"Itadakimasu!" x4
"Uh… Itadakimasu!"
'Wow, Kanzaki Aoi's cooking is really something. This fish is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside!'
After eating their fill, everyone returned to the living room. Kanae Kocho and Shinobu Kocho knelt opposite Kaito.
Kaito, unaccustomed to kneeling, chose to simply sit cross-legged.
"Once again, thank you sincerely for saving my life!"
Kanae Kocho bowed her head in gratitude. Shinobu beside her bowed as well:
"Thank you for saving my nee-sama. If it were not for you, she would have been in terrible danger!"
"Come now, haven't you already thanked me? No need to be so formal!"
"Also, Shinobu, this really isn't like you. Haven't you been calling me a big bad guy this whole time?"
Hearing his teasing, Shinobu's face flushed slightly and she retorted:
"No matter what, you saved my nee-sama. Even so, you are still a big bad guy, hmph!"
"Hey! You little…!"
"Kaito-sama, may I be so bold as to ask where you are from?"
Hearing Kanae's question, Kaito thought for a moment and replied with a smile:
"I am not from this world."
"Not from this world? What do you mean?"
Kanae Kocho was genuinely puzzled.
"To be precise, I travelled here from another world using the [Dimensional Gate]. As you have seen, I am also a little stronger than the average person."
"Travel?"
"You could also understand it as me coming from a place similar to Takamagahara."
Feeling that explaining multiverse theory to them would get nowhere, Kaito settled on the simplest framing he could manage.
"What! Then Kaito-sama, are you truly a god?"
"Compared to the gods here in Japan, I suppose I can be called one, also I am a little stronger than them."
Kaito thought of the so-called gods of this world and was fairly certain he could deal with a great many of them before breakfast.
Though admittedly, the Demon Slayer Corps world was unlikely to have any traditional gods to speak of.
"Is that so! Please forgive my boldness, but I have a request. Would you be willing to visit our Demon Slayer Corps headquarters and meet our Master?"
"Demon Slayer Corps?"
Kaito put on a puzzled expression, pretending not to know what it was.
"Our Demon Slayer Corps is…"
Kanae Kocho then explained the origins and purpose of the Demon Slayer Corps to Kaito in full.
"And so, we must kill Kibutsuji Muzan so that no more evil demons will harm people in this world! Please, we are begging you, you must meet our Master!"
At the end of her explanation, Kanae Kocho and Shinobu Kocho both lowered themselves into a dogeza before him.
"Uh… alright, I will go. Please, both of you, get up. This makes me very uncomfortable!"
Kaito finally agreed, though in truth, he had another thought quietly forming in the back of his mind.
After defeating Kibutsuji Muzan, he planned to see whether he could bring the entire Demon Slayer Corps back to the Slime World with him.
After all, the Corps was full of talented individuals, and with their help, the speed of building the Jura Tempest Federation would increase enormously.
As for whether it was actually possible, Kaito had already quietly asked the System. The System confirmed that the [Dimensional Gate] could indeed transport people across worlds.
Thinking of this, Kaito couldn't help but look forward to the expression on Rimuru's face when he returned with a whole crowd of talented people in tow.
It would be so much fun!
Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters
Kagaya Ubuyashiki looked at the letter delivered by Kanae Kocho's Kasugai crow and fell into deep thought.
He did not believe there were gods in this world. If there truly were, why had none of them come forward to eliminate Kibutsuji Muzan?
Yet in the letter, Kanae Kocho was completely certain that the man named Kaito had the power to do exactly that.
Part of him wondered if this could be a trap set by Kibutsuji Muzan to locate the Corps headquarters.
But seeing even a slim hope of finally eliminating Kibutsuji Muzan, he found he could not simply let it pass. In the end, he decided to take the gamble.
"Summon all the Hashira back to headquarters. Any Demon Slayer Corps members currently out on missions are also to return as soon as possible."
"Yes, Master!"
The guard outside received the order, knelt on one knee in acknowledgment, then rose and walked out.
Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters — The Following Day
'So this is the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters? It feels less grand than the Butterfly Estate.'
"Kaito-sama, please come in!"
Kaito walked into the main hall, took in the Hashira seated on both sides with their serious expressions, and Kagaya Ubuyashiki seated at the head with a calm smile, and couldn't help but call out cheerfully:
"Yo! Good afternoon, everyone!"
Hearing his greeting, every pair of eyes in the room turned to look at him.