"You can only tolerate and bear it or leave," Yomi continued.
Seiji frowned upon hearing this.
"It was so difficult to reach this far already. I can't leave until I find Shigure's body," Seiji replied. "How much time do I have left?"
"It's difficult to say… if this environment continues collapsing at the current rate, you should be able to tolerate it until this place completely collapses. But if the environment starts collapsing quicker, you might not be able to handle the pressure for very long."
"What will happen if this environment completely collapses?"
"It will return to the form it originally should have had."
"What would that form be?"
"I don't know, either."
"I'm guessing you also don't know how this place was created?"
"Indeed."
'Such a useless bonded spirit!' Seiji almost wanted to retort like that, but only in a joking manner.
He knew already that Yomi was incredible. It would have been impossible for Seiji to make it all the way here alone.
Basically, he interpreted the situation as there being a permanent debuff and time limit imposed upon him. The longer he stayed here, the more he would be affected by the debuff, until finally this place collapsed or he was no longer able to bear the pressure. He would need to complete his mission before the time limit was up.
But, just how was he supposed to find Shigure's body here?
Seiji was unable to come up with a good idea even after thinking for a while.
All he could do was look around the town.
As long as he was patient enough, he could continuously load and eventually search every single nook and cranny of this town. Although this was a simple and perhaps dumb method, that was all he had.
Seiji used a spell to make himself invisible before exiting the alleyway and beginning to search along the street.
...
Koutarou heard some frightening news as he sold coal.
The carpenter Saida and his entire family had died.
All the adults and children in that family had been eaten by demons!
Apart from them, several farmer families living outside the town had also been eaten by demons… Several dozen people had already died!
Koutarou was scared after hearing such news. He became extremely worried about his own family.
It was said that demons wouldn't appear in the daylight. However, Koutarou was still quite anxious and worried that he would see something terrible upon returning home.
Many people bought coal today, so he finished selling coal earlier than he normally would. Koutarou then hurriedly returned home.
He kept constantly increasing his pace as he walked, until he was basically sprinting on the mountain path back home.
His mother, younger sister, and younger brother… Koutarou's family's faces kept swirling around in his mind as he panted while running on the misty mountain path. Finally, he saw his home.
The door to his home was wide open for some reason!
In such cold and snowy weather, it would be completely abnormal to have the front door wide open.
The anxiety in the coal seller's heart reached a boiling point when he saw this.
Koutarou got closer to his home and smelled something strange.
"Mom…" Before he could even say anything else, Koutarou was stunned by the sight that he saw.
Blood was everywhere. Clothes were ripped, and some people were collapsed on the floor…
"Ahh… AHHHHHHHHH!!!" A shout of pain echoed through the mountains.
Koutarou's mother and younger brother… had died.
Koutarou didn't want to accept this reality. Yet, the cruel scene was right before him. He shouted out with an endless amount of pain. He kept crying, yet nothing changed. It was impossible for crying to change what had happened.
His younger sister was his only family member that was still alive.
She had bled a significant amount and was very weak. She was on the verge of death.
Although Koutarou had yet to completely accept what happened, his instincts of an older sibling kicked in and he started moving automatically. He hurriedly treated his younger sister's wound, and then carried her on his back down the mountain!
He was going to ask an apothecary to treat his sister so that her life may be saved.
"Don't die, Fuyumi, don't die…"
Tears kept streaming down Koutarou's cheeks as he constantly called out his younger sister's name.
Since Koutarou was carrying a person on his back while running at high speed down a snowy mountain path, it was only natural that he ended up tripping and falling heavily.
"Fuyumi…" Koutarou didn't even bother worrying about his pain as he immediately crawled up to check his sister's condition.
However, Fuyumi lifted her head and opened her eyes, only to reveal that her eyes were now blood-red!
"Awoo!!"
She let out a howl that didn't resemble human speech. Sharp fangs suddenly sprouted from her mouth, making her seem like a wild beast!
"Fuyu…mi?" Koutarou was astonished at the sight.
He saw his younger sister getting down on all fours. Her hands enlarged as her nails transformed into claws. She then pounced towards him!!
"Ahh!"
Koutarou instinctively felt afraid. His body automatically moved and tried to dodge. However, Fuyumi managed to viciously pounce on him and knock him over.
The coal seller felt that he was about to die when he saw her fangs nearing him.
"No… Fuyumi… No…" Koutarou resisted with all his might. He was quite strong from all his physical labor over the years, and succeeded in forcefully pushing his sister off of him.
"Awoo~~~!" Fuyumi kept howling as she pierced through her brother's clothes and skin with sharp claws.
"Ahhh! Fuyumi!!!" Koutarou was in extreme pain as he used his hands to forcefully push his sister away again. He then used a kick with all his might to kick her away!
Yet, Fuyumi immediately pounced on him yet again.
The coal seller was almost out of strength. He was unable to think of anything as he saw how his younger sister now had a face resembling that of a demon. All Koutarou felt was pain, sadness, and despair.
He recalled the first time that he had seen his younger sister. She had been born in winter, on a snowy day like this one. His mother gently held onto the tiny baby, and his father told him: "From today onwards, you're an older brother. You need to take good care of your little sister…"
'Dad… I'm sorry…'
Koutarou gradually closed his eyes.
The next instant, there was a loud thud. Koutarou suddenly felt the weight of his sister on his body was removed as he waited for death.
Koutarou opened his eyes, only to see a samurai!
This samurai was wearing white feathers on top of black clothing. He held a long sword in his hands, and his hair was tied up in a ponytail. He was incredibly handsome, to the point where he almost appeared androgynous.
This was the second time in Koutarou's life that he had ever seen someone so handsome.
This handsome samurai was slowly unsheathing his sword. His icy gaze was focused on the girl who collapsed on the ground a few meters away.
"Awoo!!!" Fuyumi crawled up again and roared loudly as she viciously pounced once more.
The handsome warrior instantly vanished, and swiftly reappeared behind the girl with lightning-fast footwork. He unsheathed his sword and pierced her straight through the back, viciously nailing her into the ground!
Fuyumi let out a screech of pain as she furiously waved her claws helplessly.
The handsome samurai had a cold expression as he started to move his sword, about to execute her.
"Wait… Please wait!!!" Koutarou shouted out when he noticed this. "Milord… please don't… I'm begging you, please don't kill her… she's my younger sister…" The coal seller kneeled on the ground and begged as tears poured out of his eyes. "She's the only living family member I have now… only her… My mom… my younger brother… they're all dead… I'm begging you, please don't…"
He constantly stuttered in his words as he begged with everything he had. All he wanted right now was for this samurai to spare his younger sister's life.
The handsome samurai turned around and looked at him.
"She's already become a demon. There's no saving her."
"No… no… she can be saved… she'll definitely be saved… I won't let her eat anyone… I will watch over her, and won't allow her to eat anyone, and I will find a way to save her…" Koutarou did his very best to come up with an idea despite his lack of eloquence.
He didn't want his sister Fuyumi to die, even if she had already become a demon.
"I'm begging you… I'm begging you…" The lowborn coal seller's face was covered in tears as he kneeled down on the ground before the highborn and powerful samurai.
The demon girl nailed to the ground by the sword was still struggling.
The handsome samurai stopped focusing on the demon girl, and looked only at her older brother.
"Don't leave a matter of life and death up to someone else to decide," he said in a low voice. "If you want to stop me from killing her, then try to kill me."
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