Chapter 144: I'm in Sendai
Sendai City.
The undisputed economic and cultural heart of the northeastern Tohoku region, and its provincial capital. In pop culture, the city was famed for high school volleyball, bizarre delinquent psychics, and jujutsu sorcerers—or rather, in this era, simply for agriculture and metalworking.
In a metropolis of this scale, the Ubuyashiki clan had naturally procured a sprawling, prime-estate villa right in the city center for Natsuya.
To be blunt, even Natsuya felt the gesture leaned toward absurdly excessive.
Yet ever since his official promotion to Hashira, he had come to an unexpected realization: the grinding lifestyle of hoarding coin that had once brought him so much satisfaction had suddenly lost all its flavor.
Real estate?
The moment he opened his mouth, the Ubuyashiki clan stood ready to purchase prime manors in every major prefecture across Japan without blinking an eye.
Fine dining?
Frankly, ever since his [Cooking] hit LV.3, no high-end restaurant in the country could cook a meal that tasted better than what the System produced through his hands.
And liquor?
Natsuya took a deep swig from the bottle in his hand.
Compared to sweet soda loaded with caffeine, sugar, and carbon dioxide, plain ethanol tasted hollow. It gave him the bittersweet, empty sensation of accidentally toggling on an "Infinite Gold" trainer in an RPG. When everything could be had at the press of a button, the satisfaction of scrimping, saving, waiting, and finally claiming your reward evaporated overnight.
Upon arriving in Sendai, his first order of business was to overhaul his new headquarters.
He tore down the previous clan crest plaque and replaced it with a newly minted nameplate:
[The Karakura Pavilion]
When a few senior retainers from the previous samurai lineage voiced subtle disapproval over the sudden name change?
Fired on the spot.
He didn't care whose noble ancestral manor this had been. My name isn't aesthetic enough for you? Too bad. I'm the dungeon master now.
Natsuya retained only a handful of quiet, honest servants to handle basic sweeping and routine meals. Though more often than not, he handled those chores himself to grind Life Skills—a habit that thoroughly terrified the remaining staff.
The new master just purged half the household in an instant, yet he personally sweeps the garden and cooks his own food?
What sinister psychological test is this?!
Before long, beside the main gate, another massive, gold-embossed wooden sign commissioned by Natsuya was hammered into place:
[Special Service Section 9 · Sendai Branch Kendo Dojo]
In an instant, anyone in Sendai with half an ear to the ground knew that a terrifyingly influential big shot from the Tokyo capital had taken up residence in the old samurai quarter.
And the string of elite visitors that followed only cemented the rumor as absolute fact.
On Natsuya's third day in Sendai, the Head Priest of the city's primary Shinto shrine arrived in person.
A man in his forties, draped in ceremonial kariginu robes, carrying himself with meticulous ritual dignity, accompanied by several junior shrine maidens and priests. They had come on behalf of the longstanding ties with the Ubuyashiki and Himorogi bloodlines to pay their respects to the newly minted Luminary Hashira.
Even if Natsuya didn't hail from ancient samurai nobility, carrying the joint backing of the Ubuyashiki family and Lady Amane's priestly lineage commanded absolute deference.
Naturally, their respect didn't end with mere words.
They presented gifts wrapped in fine handmade washi paper: consecrated shrine sake and sacred harvest offerings.
Natsuya, meanwhile, offered the classic polite deflection: "Ah, you really shouldn't have. Having you visit is gift enough—why waste the money?"
While simultaneously signaling his servants to carry the goods straight into the pantry without missing a beat.
The priests blinked in unison.
This Lord Luminary... seems rather distinct from the austere swordsmen we expected.
Recovering their composure, they laid out their objective. The shrine offered full-spectrum support under the guise of "Wardings against Calamity" and "Appeasing the Spirits."
In plain terms: they would funnel demon intelligence, occult historical scrolls, and routine logistical resources directly to him. They would also conduct burial and purification rites for fallen Slayers. Should the Luminary Hashira require it, the shrine could even pull strings across Sendai's mercantile guilds and local municipal offices on his behalf.
Though the priests maintained strict ritual gravity, Natsuya could hear the underlying deference. It was respect granted to his station as a Pillar—and to the clan backing him.
Since they brought etiquette, Natsuya wasn't about to be rude.
He promptly served them discounted tea leaves purchased from a department store sale alongside a plate of cheap, bear-shaped butter cookies. He closed the meeting by reassuring them that if their shrine ever ran into trouble with man-eating abominations, they need only send word and he'd handle the pest control.
Pleasantries for pleasantries; give the NPCs the dialogue choices they like to hear.
No sooner had the priests departed than the second guest arrived.
This time, the visitor was a revered matriarch from an old peerage family—the Kazoku nobility. Over sixty years old, her posture was impeccable, her gaze razor-sharp with vitality.
Her arrival lacked the pomp of the shrine delegation. She brought only a single, taciturn elderly butler.
Her gifts were seasonal fruits, top-shelf imperial tea, and several bundles of rare, preserved medicinal roots. Evidently, she had done her research and learned that the new Pillar was an accomplished physician.
Seeing her gifts, Natsuya felt an immediate twinge of buyer's remorse.
Damn. If this granny had arrived five minutes earlier, I wouldn't have had to brew that supermarket bargain tea for the priests.
Unaware of his internal critique, the noblewoman took her seat in the side reception parlor with practiced grace, engaging Natsuya in quiet conversation.
She explained that her family had quietly funded the Ubuyashiki clan and the Demon Slayer Corps since her grandfather's era, recognizing that man-eating beasts posed an existential threat to societal order and civilian law. Knowing full well what the Corps—and its Pillars—faced in the dark, she held nothing but profound admiration for these swordsmen.
Her welcome toward Natsuya's arrival in Sendai was entirely genuine.
The logic was simple: once you knew that immortal man-eaters existed, the thought of one kicking your front door off its hinges in the dead of night was an omnipresent terror. Up until now, the Demon King had shown little appetite for political conquest, but what about tomorrow? No one knew when that hidden powder keg might blow.
The matriarch laid out her terms plainly. Within Sendai, whenever Natsuya required information, specific municipal and police channels would clear the way. Certain government offices would cooperate without asking questions.
Moreover, if Natsuya required funding or equipment, her house could mobilize resources under legitimate legal cover—framed as "Charitable Grants" or "Private Security Contracts."
Most critically, she produced a hand-bound ledger.
It contained baseline profiles on virtually every major power player in Sendai: municipal bureaucrats, foreign merchants, and local underground syndicates.
She took a slow sip of tea, dropping a casual remark like idle parlor gossip:
"Sendai's currents run deep and tangled, Lord Kokonoe."
"Certain newly risen merchant houses have grown remarkably arrogant of late, disregarding old codes, and unfortunate... 'mishaps' have multiplied in the streets."
She paused, her voice maintaining an unhurried cadence.
"Should you find occasion to strike like thunder, my house and several old acquaintances stand prepared to offer legal clarification before the magistrate, ensuring ignorant rabble do not disrupt your peace."
A subtle warning that local turf wars were spilling over into the open city. And simultaneously, an ironclad guarantee: If you drop bodies, my faction will handle the press and the police.
Natsuya accepted the ledger with an easy grin.
As for municipal turf wars or local syndicate squabbles?
His gamer ethics were remarkably consistent:
Green-name NPCs walked free. Red-name targets got cut down.
Whether the red name belonged to a demon or a stray yakuza boss looking for trouble made zero difference to his sword arm.
The old noblewoman seemed to sense the chilling, bizarre detachment beneath the boy's easygoing smile. Having delivered her piece, she rose, inclined her head, and departed with her butler.
This new Pillar... feels starkly different from the idealistic, wide-eyed swordsmen the Ubuyashiki usually produce.
Perhaps... he might actually bring true stability back to a troubled Sendai.
With both the premier shrine and the local peerage nobility paying court to the Karakura Pavilion, every underground syndicate in Sendai hastily pulled their heads in, electing to observe from the shadows.
The terrifying entity that just rolled into town from Tokyo... is not someone you cross.
Though... why in the world did he name the place a 'Kendo Dojo'?!
☆☆☆
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