"Miss Tamayo? Miss Tamayo?"
Coming back to her senses, Tamayo found herself still standing in place. That boy named Tanjiro was looking at her with a worried expression, waving his hand before her eyes.
"What's wrong? You've been spacing out since just now. Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"
"Sorry, I just suddenly remembered some things..."
Quickly composing herself, Tamayo looked at Tanjiro before her again and smiled:
"Tanjiro, you just said you want me to help you subjugate Upper Rank One?"
"Y-yes!"
"Could you first tell me where exactly you heard information about me?"
"No problem! This matter starts with Kanae-senpai!"
"Her surname is Kochou—she's a descendant of that Butterfly Clan connected to Upper Rank One! Miss Tamayo, you should have met the ancestor of this clan back then..."
Tanjiro explained without reservation.
And so, under his continuous narration, Tamayo gradually came to understand the situation the Demon Slayer Corps currently faced.
Times had changed. Hundreds of years had passed, yet the Demon Slayer Corps had not continued to decline. Instead, they had ushered in a peak second only to the Sengoku era.
The emergence of the Mark, and the emergence of the Transparent World...
Although the current Demon Slayer Corps still hadn't broken through the barrier of the Upper Rank demons, their overall strength had indeed greatly improved compared to the past several hundred years!
Of course, this level of strength alone was certainly not enough.
After all, the batch of Demon Slayers from the Sengoku era might not necessarily be weaker than the current ones.
Yet when facing Tsugikuni Mitsuba who had just transformed into a demon less than a year ago, these people were still utterly powerless.
Not to mention that the current Demon Slayer Corps had to face Tsugikuni Mitsuba who had survived for nearly five hundred years!
Their current strength was far from sufficient!
But what was different was that an extremely crucial figure had appeared in this generation of the Demon Slayer Corps—
Kochou Kanae.
She was a descendant of that Butterfly physician.
Tamayo certainly hadn't forgotten this person. Although the two had only spent a few short days together, the defense Butterfly made for Tsugikuni Mitsuba had left a deep impression on Tamayo.
This person, even after learning that Mitsuba had transformed into a demon, still chose to stand by her side. And this action of hers deeply influenced her descendants.
Although she had only seen her from afar, Tamayo could deduce that during the battle in the early Tokugawa Shogunate when the Demon Slayer Corps nearly forced Tsugikuni Mitsuba into a desperate situation, the woman who finally appeared to assist Mitsuba was most likely also a descendant of Butterfly.
For hundreds of years, people of this clan had always hidden behind Tsugikuni Mitsuba. Whenever she needed them, they could sacrifice themselves for her at any moment.
But all of this was interrupted in the generation of Kanae's mother.
Kanae's mother grew up in the new education following the Meiji Restoration. Perhaps precisely because of this, she had a completely different mindset from her ancestors.
She extremely resisted her ancestors' actions, going so far as to break with her own mother and take her daughter to completely leave the family.
Later, she directly joined the Demon Slayer Corps, working for the demon-slaying cause until the end of her life.
And Kanae, influenced by her mother's teachings since childhood, upon learning of her family's past secrets, similarly felt shame for this past.
And thus made a firm resolution to personally subjugate Tsugikuni Mitsuba and wash away the shame for her family...
In the previous battle at the Infinity Castle, Mitsuba's avoidance when facing Kanae's attack seemed to confirm that she indeed possessed such capability.
At the very least, she was indeed the human most likely to accomplish this in this world.
In a daze, Tamayo thought of God.
If asked who in this world most firmly believed in God's existence, Tamayo would answer without hesitation—
Tsugikuni Mitsuba.
Among all the people Tamayo had encountered to date, Tsugikuni Mitsuba was undoubtedly the most superstitious person. She believed in God's existence more than anyone else in this world, and never wavered at any time.
If it was truly as she said, that God really existed in this world, then could Kochou Kanae's appearance be another attempt by Him?
The subjugation in the early Tokugawa Shogunate had already proven that Tsugikuni Mitsuba could not be defeated head-on. At the same time, God was also powerless to create another monster like Tsugikuni Yoriichi.
Thus, He chose the method of "playing the emotional card" as an alternative path.
Attempting to use the special existence of Butterfly's descendant to eliminate Tsugikuni Mitsuba through this circuitous way?
But was this method truly feasible?
Tamayo fell into contemplation.
If standing from Tsugikuni Mitsuba's perspective, this plan did have feasibility.
Tsugikuni Mitsuba had a special personality. She had extremely flexible bottom lines. She almost never acted according to a set of eternally unchanging standards.
When facing different people and scenarios, she would always adopt different standards accordingly.
But among these, there was one point that had never changed.
This was discovered by Tamayo, and was possibly even a detail that Tsugikuni Mitsuba herself hadn't noticed—
She never struck against those who had shown her kindness.
Perhaps it was that terrible family environment when she was human that indirectly gave rise to this behavioral logic of Tsugikuni Mitsuba.
Butterfly, the maid, the owl swordsman, even Tamayo herself...
No matter what kind of person they were, as long as they had once shown her kindness, then no matter what Mitsuba said, she would ultimately choose to let them live.
The Butterfly Clan, who had been loyal to her for generations, was even more so for her.
If it was someone from this clan, perhaps they could truly kill her.
Or, make her willing to be killed...
The key question was—did Kochou Kanae truly have such an intention?
Did she truly want to kill Tsugikuni Mitsuba?
"Mitsuba, from your perspective, what do you think?"
After sending Tanjiro's group away, Tamayo sat alone in the clinic's living room and suddenly asked.
"Who knows~"
On the hospital bed beside her, Mitsuba's figure suddenly appeared. She lay there with her eyes closed, hands folded.
"Ultimately, the key to the Demon Slayer Corps' plan doesn't lie with me, but with whether that child Kanae has the determination to do so~"
"Regarding this question, Miss Tamayo, you should wait until you meet with the Demon Slayer Corps' Master, and then personally test her, shouldn't you?"
"I want to know your opinion."