12: Entertainment District

Although the dry well looked deep from above, Jonghyuk tapped the well wall lightly with his Nichirin sword. Through the vibrations, he sensed the bottom of the well, which gave him the confidence to jump down holding his long sword.

The flesh-eating demon in the white clothes, whose attire was a loose kimono with her brests out naked while heavily stained with dark red blood, saw the large man with the sword actually jump down and was overjoyed.

"Yes~ Come to me~"

She dug her limbs into the well wall and climbed quickly like a gecko, spiraling as she lunged toward the descending Jonghyuk. Her mouth, cracked wide open in a grotesque arc from hunger, was full of sharp teeth, with bits of flesh still stuck between them.

Her voice was so soothing that it could allure any young man. But when she was certain that the tall man couldn't run back, she dropped the act and her voice became hoarse. 

"Bahahaha, jumping down with such a long sword? You're even dumber than the people in the town!"

By the light of the moon, Jonghyuk saw a dark figure pouncing at him from the well wall. He held his Nichirin sword vertically in front of his chest, deftly blocking the demon's hardened hands.

The demon in the white kimono with her two dawgs out didn't expect her hands, which could easily rip open the chests of any men, to be blocked.

"You!" Unwilling to accept this, she lunged again at his face.

Jonghyuk's expression remained unchanged. He only slightly adjusted the angle of his hand, and the long, slender Nichirin sword stood like a fence before him, once again blocking her claws.

Even when she was human, this demon had not been good-tempered. Over a trivial matter, she had pushed her husband down a dry well, killing him. The town's people investigated and then found her guilty but she seduced the officer and then killed him in order to escape. After the people found out, they hunted her down. This caught the attention of Muzan, who turned her into a demon, making her even more ferocious.

"You Damn Human!!!" Seeing that she failed twice, she let out a furious scream.

At this moment, both of them landed at the bottom of the well. Jonghyuk's foot stepped on a skeleton, which crumbled under his weight, causing him to lose his balance for a brief moment. The demon immediately lunged at him.

The demon in white had a voluptuous figure and her two bouncing naked peaks were very alluring which might have been a seductive sight under different circumstances, but Jonghyuk only smelled a foul stench. He instantly exerted force to push her away.

The demon felt as though she had just started to lunge forward when an overwhelming force erupted from the man's hands. She was flung back like a piece of rotten meat, slamming into the well wall behind her.

Bang!

With a dull thud, the demon felt the bones in her back crack slightly.

Her eyes were filled with shock—how could a human possess such strength?

"W-Wait! I-I can suck your di—"Seeing the man raise that astonishingly long black sword with both hands, a wave of panic surged through her heart.

Ting!

"Hmm?"x2

Jonghyuk had just lifted his katana when he felt the blade hit the well wall. The well was barely more than a meter square, which indeed made it inconvenient to wield.

"Bahahaha! That's right!" The flesh-eating demon, witnessing this, felt a surge of joy. She instantly scrambled up the well wall, trying to escape.

"Can't swing that sword in here, can you, fool!"

Jonghyuk's breathing rhythm suddenly changed, his blood rushing swiftly as his heartbeat became rapid. All the muscles in his body swelled in an instant.

"AhhhhhHHHHhhhh!" Veins popped on his hands and neck as he swung his sword with his full power.

Swish!

A flash of a pitch-black blade swept past, and the flesh-eating demon felt a chill on her back. Then, she felt as if the entire dried-up well was slowly tilting, like a block of tofu being sliced open. She tried desperately to cling to the well wall, but suddenly felt her body lighten as her vision slowly shifted apart.

"Ha?—ACCCKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!"

She hadn't even felt the pain yet, but the fear of being split from her forehead down the middle made her scream.

She desperately tried to make both halves of her body come together again, but with a chill at her neck, her consciousness quickly faded. "I could have sucked your dic..."

Jonghyuk bent his legs slightly, pushed off with force, and leaped up to the surface. With the Breath of the Earth empowering him, his physical abilities had already been strengthened to an inhuman level. Even so, he dared not relax for a moment—after all, his enemies were far from human.

Rumble, rumble—only now did the sound of the collapsing well emerge.

Under the cover of night, the swordsman in black, with his long sword on his back, silently left the town.

Perhaps people like the izakaya owner would realize after some time that the dried-up well posed no danger and continue their peaceful days.

The demon-slaying swordsmen in this world are like patches, silently erasing one by one the tragedies created by Muzan Kibutsuji.

...

[Trial Mission 1: Survive for three months (45/91)]

[Trial Mission 2: Kill at least one demon (Completion Rate: 315%)]

Jonghyuk sighed inwardly. After reaching a completion rate of 300%, the contribution from these ordinary demons became quite low and not cost-effective.

"Sigh, it still has to be the Twelve Kizuki."

Therefore, after completing this task, Jonghyuk did not return to the Demon Slayer Corps but instead headed in the direction of the Red-Light District.

Among the Twelve Kizuki, the only ones with known locations were Rui at Natagumo Mountain and Daki in the Red-Light District. Considering the plot changes that would occur after killing Rui and the completion points that Lower Rank demons could provide, Jonghyuk decided to set his target on Daki.

The probability of changes among the Upper Ranks was much lower than among the Lower Ranks. Even Muzan Kibutsuji would be unlikely to go as far as killing an Upper Rank to trigger the final battle. Moreover, the evaluation for killing Upper-Rank Six would certainly be much higher than that for lower-rank five.

Jonghyuk traveled while gathering information, which took a few days. Fortunately, the Red Light District was not too far from his location, and even without a train, he could still reach it.

That day, Jonghyuk arrived at a small town less than a hundred miles away from the Red-Light District.

He decided to rest here for the night and gather his energy to search for Daki in the Red-Light District the next day. He wasn't sure if Daki was currently operating under the identity of Warabihime or any other __hime. Approaching those courtesans would require not only money but also considerable effort.

The small town was nestled by the mountains and rivers, with dense forests behind it and a two-meter-wide river flowing gently in front. Every household had some trees with red leaves growing in their yards, creating a tranquil beauty in the setting sun.

Jonghyuk's mind relaxed a little. As he walked through the town, he noticed that it seemed like everyone was celebrating some happy occasion, with smiles on the faces of all the households.

Occasionally, he even encountered a few people by the river drinking freely.

Life here seemed truly carefree.

Jonghyuk hadn't expected to see such a scene in the world of Demon Slayer. A slight smile appeared on his face.

He noticed a small shop nearby, where a little girl no more than a meter tall, wearing a pink and white dress, was wiping a table. Jonghyuk walked in and sat down right where she had just finished cleaning.

The little girl, seeing a tall stranger, wasn't afraid. Instead, she looked Jonghyuk up and down and said, "Hey, Big Boy! You're really tall, don't your knees hurt?"

Jonghyuk's face darkened, feeling that this little one wasn't very polite. Then he heard the girl continue, "Since you're so tall, can you help me get the little ball from that tree?"

Jonghyuk turned his head and indeed saw a colorful little ball hanging from a crooked tree by the river outside.

The two of them walked to the tree by the river. Jonghyuk looked up at the height, preparing to jump up, but suddenly felt his pants being tugged.

Jonghyuk looked down and saw the little girl frowning slightly.

"Nana Hana can get it herself; she just needs... just needs... a little bit of help."

Jonghyuk looked at the little girl tugging on his pants and sighed. Squatting down, he said, somewhat irritably, "Nana Hana, huh? Aren't you afraid I'll just kidnap you?"

Riding on Jonghyuk's shoulders and finally reaching the little ball, Nana Hana was overjoyed and let out a crisp laugh.

"I'm not afraid! If Nana Hana went missing, everyone would go crazy looking for me."

Jonghyuk set down the delicate little girl, thinking that if such a cute child were lost, the neighbors would surely be worried.

The two of them walked back into the shop, and the little girl immediately shouted, "We've got a customer!"

A slightly older girl at the counter looked up. She seemed to have just been napping and was a bit groggy. She was wearing a blue kimono and had a somewhat delicate appearance.

Seeing her sister still looking sleepy, the little girl named Nana Hana shouted again, "Father, Mother, Sister is slacking—!"

The older girl at the counter rushed over and covered Nana Hana's mouth, her expression filled with a fear that Jonghyuk couldn't understand.

Jonghyuk frowned, and just as the older girl was about to speak, the door to the inner room opened.

A mature and still charming woman, who appeared to be the shop owner, stepped out, casually adjusting her clothes to cover her exposed shoulders. Behind her followed a man with dark, sallow skin, begrudgingly fastening his belt.

However, when both of them saw Jonghyuk, their eyes lit up, and a look crossed their faces—a look of greed that Jonghyuk couldn't quite comprehend.