"Wow——"
"Such a big wild boar!"
"Eiichiro Oda, did you guys poke a wild boar's nest?"
"Shut up, Mao, Father said that wild boars are ferocious beasts, and we should avoid them when we see them... Eiichiro, this boar must have run into a tree and died on its own, right."
Run into a tree? Roy only knew that boars had a habit of rubbing against trees.
He smiled and patted Takeo's head, praising him: "My Takeo is indeed smart."
Kamado Takeo puffed out his small chest and said proudly, "See? I was right."
Immediately, he received many side glances.
"Yes... yes... yes, you're the smart one..." Nezuko, the great general, stepped in to handle her little brother. Poor Takeo was proud for a moment, but the next he was dragged away by his ear.
Their mother, Kie Kamado, smiled and shook her head, stepping forward to help Roy remove the basket from his back, asking with concern, "You're not hurt, are you?"
Roy shook his head, handed over the venison in his hand, patted the snow off his body with Tanjiro, and went up to the veranda.
In one corner of the veranda, a brazier was burning, and a pot of hot tea was warming on it. Tanjuro was wrapped in a thick blanket, sitting beside the brazier. Seeing him coming up, he waved.
Roy walked over and sat down next to him.
A cup of hot tea was handed over, and Tanjuro said warmly, "Thank you for your hard work, Eiichiro."
"It's nothing... with Tanjiro helping me, it wasn't much effort." Roy took a sip of the hot tea. He gave half the "credit" to Tanjiro.
Tanjiro was teasing Hana in Grandma's arms, and when he heard that, he scratched his head embarrassedly: "I didn't really do anything. It was all Niisan busy by himself."
The brothers understood each other without words and didn't mention the encounter with the Evil Ghost, to avoid scaring their family, including brothers and sisters.
However, Tanjuro was keenly perceptive.
He knew Tanjiro's character all too well and knew this child wouldn't lie.
Which means... the deer, the pheasant, and that huge wild boar were indeed all Roy's doing.
However, a child in his teens could already hunt a wild boar alone...
Tanjuro gave Roy a deep look... The young boy sipped his tea calmly, using his free hand to tease Hana, who Tanjiro had brought over, enjoying a rare moment of peace.
Unfortunately, very soon... he was called into the kitchen by Kie.
"Eiichiro, Tanjiro, come cut up the pig...."
"Coming!" The two brothers got off the veranda and went out, followed by two little sidekicks.
Takeo and Mao shouted, "I want to watch the pig be cut..."
Their short legs moved faster than anyone else's. In the blink of an eye, only Tanjuro, Nezuko, and Grandma were left in the main house, taking care of Hana.
"Abba... Abba..." Hana couldn't speak yet and often sucked on her fingers like she was nursing.
Nezuko was patiently taking her little hand down.
Tanjuro nestled by the brazier, warming his hands, occasionally staring blankly at the falling snowflakes in the courtyard.
Not long after, the moon had risen to its zenith. The rich aroma of meat wafted through the small courtyard.
For dinner, they finally had meat to eat.
After that, no one bothered to speak. They grabbed their bowls and ate quickly, for fear of wasting even a second.
In the end, everyone except Roy had eaten to their stomachs' content.
Even Tanjuro, who rarely ate much, had an extra bowl.
"Oh my~ I'm so full, Takeo, help me rub my belly." Mao lay sprawled on the floor, rubbing his stomach and "wailing," with Takeo sprawled out beside him.
Kie Kamado wanted to teach them to be more elegant, but couldn't bear to speak up, so she just gave them a stern look and told Roy and Tanjiro to take the two boys to bed.
Nezuko helped Kie clean up the dishes.
Seeing this, Roy nodded, grabbing Takeo and Mao by the collars and taking them to the adjacent room to the main house.
By this time, the night had deepened.
Takeo and Mao played around for a while and then fell into a deep sleep.
Tanjiro, who had experienced a day more exciting than his entire childhood, was exhausted... rubbing his eyes, he said goodnight to Roy and crawled into bed.
"Phew~"
The oil lamp was blown out, and in the darkness, only Roy remained awake.
He was waiting, waiting for someone, and he saw that figure.
Soon, a familiar cough came from outside the window, and Tanjuro's shadow faintly appeared on the paper-pasted window.
He stood silent for a while by the wall, seemingly with no intention of coming in, before he finally turned to leave, wrapped in a big coat.
Yet, suddenly, Roy called out.
"Father, don't you have anything to ask?"
A wild boar as tall as a man isn't something an ordinary teenager can handle... Roy could package the truth into a lie and fool Tanjiro by saying he learned those killing techniques in a dream.
But he wasn't confident he could repeat it and deceive Tanjuro.
After all, though Tanjuro seemed weak, he was the only one in the Demon Slayer World who awakened the "Transparent Realm" as a non-swordsman!
Thanks to his teaching, Tanjiro was able to step into the "Transparent" realm three years later while pursuing Upper Moon Four, the Half-Demon Dog.
Therefore, after hearing Roy's words,
Tanjuro paused markedly; he was silent for a long time before he smiled and said, "No."
This time, it was Roy's turn to be silent... If moments ago, he still held a slim hope, thinking Tanjuro might not notice anything unusual, now... that was no longer the case.
Roy organized his thoughts, quickly coming up with several plans, only to dismiss them all.
In a moment of determination, he blurted it out: "Father probably wants to know why I can hunt a wild boar on my own. Let me tell..."
"I don't want to."
Suddenly, a calm yet powerful voice interrupted Roy.
Then Tanjuro repeated once more: "I don't want to know."
Afterward, there was no more sound...
Only through the paper window could one vaguely see.....
The man, gaunt and skeletal, stood against the wind and snow, a pair of sun earrings swaying in the breeze, as if he could be blown over at any moment.
After a while, he added in an unusually firm tone: "Eiichiro, I know you are my child."
"You love your grandmother, your mother, your siblings..."
"That is enough."
"As for your secret...."
Tanjuro opened the window and looked at him with a smile: "Tell Dad when you feel like sharing it."
Roy's eyes suddenly felt warm, and he wanted to say something.
Their mother, Kie Kamado, came seemingly from nowhere.
More gentle than ever, she slapped Tanjuro's hand away from the window and threatened his ear, dragging him away.
Vaguely, through the wall, Roy seemed to hear her grumbling to Tanjuro, as if blaming him for making trouble and getting the child cold.
"Sob sob..."
A gust of cold wind blew in, and it was indeed chilly.
Roy shrank his neck, buried himself entirely under the blanket, leaving only his eyes outside, staring blankly at the dark roof beam.
Sometimes, certain beautiful things feel so unreal in their beauty.
If he could remain lost in thought until dawn, Roy thought that would be quite alright, at least——
He wouldn't have to wake up to face another home... that home, with its great estate, more than a hundred servants, and where a single command could make the steward die for him!
Yet he had to constantly endure facing a cold father, a twisted mother, deranged brothers, and a grandfather who killed every day.
'So, why do I appear here?'
'And why must I leave here?'
Roy kept asking himself....
Finally, he squinted his eyes, arriving at an answer.
'Yes... it's to become strong enough to overthrow that household!' '
'To be the true master!'