[Then I'll leave this sibling pair to you, Mitsuba. You must quickly cultivate their strength. I don't want to see any more Upper Rank demons die at the hands of those ants!]
Muzan's voice rang out again.
From his voice tinged with traces of anger, it was clear that he obviously still hadn't moved on from his previous rage over Upper Rank Six being slain by Demon Slayers.
Thinking carefully, Lord Muzan was actually quite "pitiful" in this matter.
In his original vision, any member of the Twelve Kizuki should be an existence that could crush Demon Slayers.
They should be powerful beings that could cause devastating blows to the Demon Slayer Corps the moment they appeared.
But to the demons' regret, from the birth of the Twelve Kizuki until now—over two hundred years—the Lower Rank demons had never been particularly impressive, always being frequently slain by Demon Slayers.
The Demon Slayer Corps had even produced a rule because of this: "As long as one can slay a Lower Rank demon, they can be directly promoted to Hashira."
Damn it—the dignified Twelve Kizuki had actually become a whetstone for your Demon Slayer Corps?!
The Demon King was incomparably furious about this, but unfortunately the Lower Rank demons truly couldn't be propped up, so that in the end his rage could only be impotent rage.
By now, Muzan had adopted a "semi-laissez-faire" attitude toward the Lower Rank demons, only hoping that the Upper Rank demons could preserve their dignity and not be casually slain like the Lower Rank demons.
But even this small wish was difficult for the Upper Rank demons to achieve.
Every several decades, there would always be an Upper Rank demon dying at the hands of Demon Slayers, using this behavior of suddenly dying to constantly provoke the Demon King's irritable and easily angered nerves.
And ultimately gave birth to the current "Demon King hibernation mode."
Sigh, no helping it. After all, the birth of the Twelve Kizuki back then was first proposed by Mitsuba, so perhaps this was also responsibility coming full circle...
"Eh?!"
However, facing Muzan's behavior of unhesitatingly becoming a hands-off lord, Mitsuba still decided to fight for herself.
"That won't work, Lord Muzan. I'm already exhausted just keeping an eye on Hakuji that child. Moreover, I'm currently holding multiple positions now. If you stuff more people onto me, I'll really work myself to death."
[In that case, Mitsuba, go find someone else to take responsibility for you! In short, I only want to see this sibling pair quickly promoted to Upper Rank! That's it!]
After speaking, Muzan didn't give Mitsuba any more opportunity to open her mouth, directly cutting off the mental communication.
"Sigh..."
The inside of her mind suddenly became quiet. Mitsuba sighed deeply.
"What's wrong, Holy Maiden?"
Hearing her sigh, Doma—who was hugging an arm and gnawing on it nonstop—turned his head and asked:
"Did that lord say something to you?"
As his words fell, the Gyutaro siblings beside him also simultaneously turned to look over.
Clearly, this sibling pair was also quite concerned about their future whereabouts.
"Lord Muzan said, to have me take responsibility for teaching the Gyutaro siblings..."
"Isn't that quite good? With Holy Maiden your strength, you'll definitely be able to teach this sibling pair to become very, very strong! Perhaps even stronger than me?"
"Good my foot, I also have many things to do normally, okay? And I'm already teaching that little one Hakuji... wait!"
As if suddenly thinking of something, Mitsuba looked at Doma, the corner of her mouth rising in a meaningful arc.
"Doma, I'm suddenly thinking—how about I just send this sibling pair to your Eternal Bliss Sect instead."
"Eh, what would they do at my Eternal Bliss Sect?"
"Become holy maidens, of course!"
Meeting Doma's puzzled gaze, Mitsuba quickly stepped forward and sat beside Ume, one arm around her shoulder, the other poking at her pretty little face with traces of bloodstains, speaking with a smile:
"Don't religions generally have some kind of similar symbolic existence? Look how cute Ume is—leaving her to you as a holy maiden would be perfectly suitable!"
Yes, exactly like this!
Passing the Gyutaro siblings to Doma could not only achieve the main goal of "finding a powerful demon to teach the siblings."
It could also conveniently give Doma something to do, preventing this guy from pestering her Holy Maiden all day long.
More importantly, Mitsuba could also take this opportunity to carefully observe Doma's various reactions when interacting with others, thereby further achieving her additional goal of wanting to observe Doma's psychological condition!
This was a plan that kills three birds with one stone!
But Doma didn't accept it.
Regarding Mitsuba's sales pitch, he refuted without hesitation:
"But my Eternal Bliss Sect already has you as its holy maiden, Holy Maiden!"
"So, when exactly did I become your holy maiden?"
Mitsuba asked helplessly.
She had indeed been curious about this for a long time. Why did this guy shout "Holy Maiden" nonstop the moment he saw her?
What, did you meet me in your previous life?
"You always have been! From the very first day the Eternal Bliss Sect was founded!"
"In that case, can't you just change to a new holy maiden now?!
Look how cute Ume is, isn't she more suitable than me?"
"This absolutely cannot be done! Our entire Eternal Bliss Sect exists for the sake of Miss Mitsuba you!"
As his words fell, Doma raised his hands high above his head, then lowered them to press together before his chest, and finally shouted with that expression full of piety:
"Praise Holy Maiden~"
Instantly goosebumps fell all over the ground. Before Mitsuba could react, she saw Ume beside her also closely following Doma's set of movements, shouting piously:
"Praise Holy Maiden~"
Ume didn't know what Doma was doing, nor did she know what this meant. She just thought it was quite fun.
"Doma! You fucking...!"
"Th-that..."
Just as Mitsuba was so embarrassed and angry that she wanted to twist Doma's head off, the silent Gyutaro finally tentatively spoke at this moment.
"Actually, Ume and I could continue living in the entertainment district..."
For Gyutaro, who had never left the entertainment district since childhood, he couldn't imagine what the world outside the entertainment district was like.
Being at the bottom of society, he had no expectations or longing for the outside world either.
He undoubtedly detested everything here in the entertainment district, but if he were to make the choice himself, he would subconsciously choose this place he detested...
The contradictory complexity of human nature.
But this time, it was Mitsuba's turn to disagree.
"No."
Regarding Gyutaro's proposal, Mitsuba refused without hesitation.
"The entertainment district is not a place for normal people to stay. Since I said I would take responsibility, I naturally cannot let you continue staying in this filthy den of man-eaters."
Her expression finally becoming somewhat serious, as two suitable figures surfaced in her mind, Mitsuba stood up and said:
"Let's go, stop eating for now. I'll take you to meet two people."
...
(Everyone can guess where this sibling pair is going first meow~)